Pursuing a New Path
by ranmafan1
Summary: Ranma-AMG crossover. Added Chapter 7, Part 1.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters below. Ranma ½ and Ah! My Goddess were created by people a lot more imaginative than me. I am also not making any money off of this. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

Note: This story takes place after the Jusendo incident. Ranma is about to enter his junior year of high school. This story starts towards the end of the summer break.

Pursuing a New Path

by ranmafan1

Prologue

Ranma was not having a good day. Of course, the pigtailed martial artist could not remember the last time he did have a good day. Currently, he was sulking around the damaged areas of the Tendo Dojo. Large patches of holes scattered the floorboards and ceiling. The latest repairs that needed to be done were recently caused by another random attack by Ryoga, who spouted off the same ramblings about having seen hell because of him. 'Stupid pig-boy. Doesn't know when to shut up. Probably would blame me for the end of the world if it happened.' Akane saw the two fighting and naturally blamed everything on Ranma and subsequently malleted him through the roof of the dojo. The funny thing was that Ranma could have sworn he saw a glimmer of a smug smirk on both Ryoga and Akane's faces before launching through the roof. 'Stupid tomboy. Never listens to me.'

Things have not gotten better between the two of them after the failed wedding. Initially, the fiancée mess quieted done for about a month, which seemed to be when the whole group decided that it was enough time to pick up where they left off. Although in the back of his mind, Ranma thought that there was something strange about the fiancées' attitudes toward winning his affections, as if it were more for tradition than not.

It was days like this were Ranma would like to not have to hold back so much. Since the Jusendo incident, Ranma had not faced any opponents of such power again. However, he did get his good share of fiancées randomly showing up at the doorstep as well as the usual martial artist with some sort of crazy fighting style. Just in case an adversary like Saffron would show up again, Ranma had gone on frequent weekend training trips, including an extended one during last summer's vacation to try and duplicate various techniques he had seen during his time in Nerima up to that point.

He had been able to apply the Amaguriken principles to his lower body, went under the Breaking Point training, perfected the Splitting Cat Hairs trick, and duplicated the rest of the Saotome Forbidden Techniques. After these were accomplished, he created his own revisions of the techniques. They included a Breaking Point Wave (which basically simulated a minor and localized earthquake through manipulation of lines of breaking points), a Moko Takabisha Rapid Fire (Amaguriken with a rapid fire of smaller Moko Takabishas), Blade Barrage (Amaguriken with rapid fire of vacuum blades), using the thief's invisibility without a ki vacuum being present, and his most deadly attack, the Dragon's Teeth (a Hiryu Shoten Ha composed of vacuum blades). He shivered remembering how the forest he was practicing in was basically reduced to sawdust from the one time the technique was used. Realizing then and there how deadly the Yamasenken portions of the Saotome Forbidden Techniques could be, he created versions where the vacuum blades had less sharpness and acted more like brunt weapons.

But he never used these special techniques against the Nerima Wrecking Crew because some of them were simply too dangerous. They were going to be reserved for powerful enemies like Saffron. So during his day-to-day battles, he had to fake his skill level against opponents, making it look like he was only able to barely win. He suspected that Cologne and Happosai knew the truth about his skills, but for some reason, they never voiced their thoughts about it and acted as usual. And so life continued as normal, or as normal can be for one Ranma Saotome.

Ranma sighed as he picked up another piece of the broken roof off the floor. Of course, when he returned a few hours later, wet and female thanks to landing in the canal via Akane Mallet Air, the idiot fathers ranted and raved to him about not getting along with his fiancée, joining the two schools, and how Ranma must live up to his responsibilities to the Anything Goes School. 'Stupid oyaji for getting me into this mess.' After punting his father into the pond, the lousy panda ordered him to make repairs to the place. 'As if he has any right to boss me around after all the crap he created in my life.' Akane and Soun ganged up as well, telling him to do the same.

Normally, contractors would do repairs to the dojo on a regular basis, but because of a recent increase on insurance premiums, money has been extremely tight for the residents. Since the fathers liked to sit around on their asses all day rather than re-opening the dojo and actually teaching students, the only money the group had to work with was the regular blackmail funds that Nabiki normally acquired. To compensate for this, Nabiki "kindly" suggested for Ranma to take-up a part-time job, and so the martial artist began to earn income from waitressing at the Nekohaten. 'Stupid old ghoul. A damn slave driver is what she is.' Which was true for Ranma's case since Cologne seemed to derive a twisted sense of pleasure for working her 'son-in-law' even more than Shampoo and Mousse combined. 'Getting her money's worth she says. Ha! More like she gets off on it.' At least with the summer almost over, he would not have to worry about waitressing for a while. Happosai was reported being seen in the Juuban district recently once he heard tales of superheroes posing around in short skirts. Ranma sure felt sorry for them, and would probably had gone to retrieve the old pervert had he not have problems of his own.

Naturally during the repairs forced upon him, the family decided to go on vacation to the beach while he had to do all of the fixing. 'It's not like I wanted to damage the place. Ryoga's the jerk who started it.' At least he got the weekend off from the Nekohaten, Cologne saying that they were going to join the Tendo's. 'That's weird, though. I thought this would've been the perfect time for Shampoo to spend time with her airen.' Ukyo was not around as well. Maybe when they heard of the Tendo's vacation, they assumed he would be going with them. Not willing to dwell too much on such a gift, the thought slipped his mind. With another sigh, Ranma dropped the wood and decided to order something out since the Nekohaten and Ucchan's were not open.

Walking outside the dojo and easily jumping over the koi pond, Ranma went into the Tendo home and towards the phone. Picking up the nearby phone book and scanning through it, he decided to call a local noodle shop, one that was not nearly as popular or as good as the Nekohaten, but had decent enough food. After dialing the appropriate number, Ranma waited for someone to answer. He did not have to wait long.

"Yeah, this is the Demon Grief Office. Don't go anywhere. Someone's coming over. Do it or you'll be sorry." The phone line went dead.

Ranma could only stare stupidly at the phone. "Okay, that was weird." He was about to redial the number when all of a sudden he felt a strong presence behind him, one that sent chills down his spine. Whirling around, Ranma dropped the phone and came face to face with…

A few minutes earlier in Nifelheim…

Mara, demoness class one, category one, unlimited of the Demon Grief Office, was not having a good day, with good being a relative term. Her latest scheme to bring misery upon a certain trio of goddesses and their mortal companion had failed. The plan was rather simple, having a lower level oni possess Keiichi and forcing him do all sorts of horrible things that he would later regret. She even took a long time in casting many spells to camouflage the creature's presence from the goddesses.

Everything was going fine. Keiichi was unnoticeably possessed, but the problem was that an oni can only bring out the dark impulses within a soul…and Keiichi did not have a particularly high level of evil desires in him. The mischievous limit to Keiichi seemed to impulsively and passionately kiss Belldandy, whom did not seem to mind at all, but actually quite happy for the initiative. Then the little brat had to go and hammer him for touching Belldandy. Of course, since her hammer was used for debugging, it had sufficient power to send the oni back to Nifelheim. The worst part of the ordeal was that Urd seemed to get it into her head that Keiichi's new attitude was resultant from her 'guidance.' The last thing Mara saw was Urd giving herself a pat on the back, literally, by splitting herself into her miniature forms.

As punishment for her latest failure, Hild had detained her to temporary desk duty. 'Imagine, me, the premier agent for Midgard, on desk duty. Damn Norns.' Things had been boring for the past couple of days, doing basically nothing but sitting around a damn phone. Earlier in the day, Hild sent her a message via computer, indicating that later she was to grant a demonic wish to one Ranma Saotome. So here she was, reading over the file of said person.

Even with being a high level demoness, Mara could not help but be a little impressed by the chaos that seemed to circulate around the man. 'Jusenkyo curse, Neko-ken training…defeat of Saffron!…So this is that guy. Hmm, seems like he needed the aid of a magical weapon and Saffron wasn't able to regulate his full abilities, but still…rather impressive.' Even if the self-proclaimed Phoenix god was actually a demi-god, his defeat by a mortal was some interesting news among the deities and demons.

"Boy, this kid has more chaos surrounding him than some class three's." Her musings were cut short by a ringing at the telephone. "Oh well, time to get to work." The blond demoness picked up the phone. "Yeah, this is the Demon Grief Office. Don't go anywhere. Someone's coming over. Do it or you'll be sorry." After hanging up the phone, Mara stood up and disappeared in a mist of black energy.

Back to the present…

With his life as weird as it was, Ranma had seen many strange things during the past few years in Nerima. It seemed to him that this was going to be another of those times. Standing in front of him was a beautiful blond woman wearing a tight leather outfit with a cape attached to it. The outfit did not leave anything to the imagination regarding her…assets. On her forehead there were two diagonal red slashes, accompanied by a pair of red triangles on each cheek under her red eyes. The woman radiated sexuality and a predatory nature that reminded Ranma too much of a cat. Had these been the only things Ranma could sense, he would merely have been uncomfortable and probably be blushing like crazy.

No, what made him wary of the woman in front of him was the dark aura she was radiating. He never felt such a strong power before! The energy wasn't ki, but something similar and yet so different from what Saffron used. However, she made Saffron seem like a baby! Hell, she could probably take on Saffron, Herb, Cologne, as well as Happosai all at the same time and still have power to spare! 'What the hell is she?…And what the hell does she want? One moment she's not here, the next minute she is…Oh crap! She had better not be another fiancée!' Although he wouldn't admit it, Ranma knew he could not defeat someone so powerful. 'I'm in deep shit, here!'

While Ranma was inspecting Mara, she was doing the same to him. She liked what she saw. 'I can see why he has all of those girls after him. Let's see. Looks. Nice lean build, not too much muscle, but just the right amount. Clothes. That red silk and black pant combination works well on him. Attitude. Hell, the kid's practically oozing confidence.' She almost sighed in regret. 'Business before pleasure.' "Hey, kiddo."

This seemed to snap Ranma out of his trance, and even then he could only respond dumbly. "Huh?" Shaking his head to clear it, he more intelligently asked her, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Mara smirked at the questions. "To the point, eh. Well, the name's Mara, demoness class one, category one, unlimited of the Demon Grief Office. It seems that you, Ranma Saotome, have been found worthy of a wish, any wish you want. No strings attached."

To say that Ranma was shocked at what was said would be like saying that Akane's cooking was just bad. "Wha..?"

Mara's grin widened, incidentally showing her somewhat notable fangs, at the dumbstruck expression on the pigtailed boy's face. "You heard right, kid. You get to wish for anything that your little heart desires, but only one wish."

Ranma could only blink. A moment later his eyes narrowed at his supposed benefactor. "Yeah right, lady. Thanks, but no thanks. I've had my fill with wishes and they're nothing but trouble."

If possible, the superior smirk on Mara's face became even more pronounced. "Oh, like that wishing sword business." At his bewildered look, she continued, "That's right. I read your file before I came here and I've got to say, you have had one hell of a life so far. I know about your Jusenkyo curse, the Neko-ken training you went through as a kid, and even that battle with Saffron you had."

Ranma was becoming increasingly unnerved by the casualness this Mara was describing the details of his life. "Just the same, I'd like it if you'd just go now. Thanks for the offer, but I'll, uh, pass."

Mara was getting slightly annoyed at the paranoia he was showing, but she could understand its justification. She was a demoness after all and tricking mortals into deals was part of their trademark. "Look, I don't have all day. If you don't really want the wish then just ask for something stupid like food. Personally, I have better things to do than just stand around and wait for some mortal to make a stupid wish. Hell, just wish that you don't want the wish for all I care."

This statement was slightly disconcerting for Ranma. It seemed as if she really didn't care whether he made a wish or not. He sort of expected the demoness in front of him to have a gleam in her eye when talking about the wish, the kind he has gotten used to over the years from being used so much, but he couldn't find any traces. 'Of course, she says she's a demoness, and, so, she just could be really good at hiding emotions like that.' "So, what's the catch? There's always a catch with stuff like this. Why am I getting a wish anyway?"

Rolling her eyes at 'Mr. Twenty Questions,' she decided to answer anyway. "For the last time, there is no catch. It isn't going to cost your soul or returning a favor or any of that crap." Chuckling a bit, she added, "Your actually getting the wish as a sort of reward."

Ranma blinked again. He seemed to be doing that a lot in the past few minutes. "Reward?…Reward for what?"

Now examining her nails as if this was something special about them, she replied. "Well, it was for all of that wonderful chaos that you brought into the world."

Ranma became indignant about this. "Hey! It's not like I wanted any of this crap that goes on in my life! It's all oyaji's fault and his stupid promises! Why isn't he getting this put on him?"

"Because not all of the chaos was due to his little pledges. They may have started situations, but it was your own fault for letting them go on as they did. You could have ended the whole mess long ago."

Ranma was not liking where this was going, not one bit. "What do you mean?"

Shrugging her shoulders indifferently, she continued. "Well, if you want to put it into simple terms, according to your Japanese honor codes, Genma's pledges have destroyed your family's honor. All you had to do was admit this to everyone and the whole thing would have been settled. Even the Amazons would refuse to marry with an honorless family."

Ranma could only momentarily gape at her for a moment until a hot rage took over him. He practically snarled out, "Take that back!" His knuckles cracked from balling them too tight.

Mara raised an eyebrow before responding, "For what, telling you the truth. Look kid, the simple matter is that your family's honor was ground into the dirt with Genma's multiple marriage pledges. The system gave you a wish since some small part of you realized this to be the truth, but because of your denial, everything went along as it did…That and your pride." 'Enough ego here for some small countries I'd think, not that it's a bad thing.'

The pigtailed martial artist continued to glare daggers at the woman in front of him, temporarily forgetting about the vast amount of power he felt within her. For several long moments, he continued to stare in silence, when suddenly his shoulders slumped in defeat. Ranma grudgingly admitted to himself the truth in her words. 'She's right. I knew our family's honor was basically worthless after finding out about these damn pledges. But that's been a large part of what I have been fighting for all along. On the road, that's basically all I have had, honor. My personal honor might be okay, but the family honor isn't. What am I going to do?'

The demoness rolled her eyes at the boy's apparent contemplation. "Hey kid, have you forgotten already? You've got a wish coming. Being the mess that your life is, it probably wouldn't fix everything, but," Mara shrugged her shoulders, "we'll see how it works out."

Ranma sighed in defeat. "You're right. One wish wouldn't fix anything. Hell a dozen of them probably wouldn't do the trick. What can I do, though? Any way I look at this, honor is going to be lost."

Indifferent to the situation, Mara shrugged and replied, "Well, forget about family honor then."

Ranma scowled at the woman. "What kind of answer is that!?!"

Unfazed by his anger, seeming even a little pleased by it, she continued, "The simple answer. Technically your family honor was crushed even when you were a baby and you seemed to have done alright for yourself considering how you grew up. What's going to be so different?" Mara snorted in disgust. "You mortals and your pathetic sense of honor. A bunch of non-sense if you ask me."

The answer doesn't seem to placate Ranma. "Well, I didn't ask you…Besides, why the hell would I ask you about honor? Demons like you don't understand or have to worry about things like responsibility."

Mara scowled at the boy's presumptions. "Look, kid, don't assume about things you don't comprehend. Yeah, demons spread all sorts of chaos throughout the world and it's pretty fun doing it, but this kind of power comes with a price too you know."

Ranma looked skeptically at the demoness. "Oh yeah, like what?"

As if she were about to state the obvious, Mara snorted and situated her hands on her hips. "Look even though we're demons, we still have rules to follow. We have our own laws and penalties for going against them. If we didn't have some sort of system, we'd never get anything accomplished. Unlike what you believe, demons can't simply go out and start massive waves of destruction and mayhem on a whim. In fact, there are big penalties for that kind of thing. Also there is the simple fact you seem to forget is that demons are universally hated for what they merely are, even if there are some gods who act a lot worse than some demons. There are a lot more races than human beings, kid, and they all despise us. Outside of ourselves, we may have an occasional friend or so from the heavens, but that's about it."

Surprised at the revelation and slightly ashamed, Ranma replied, "Oh, uh, sorry about that." He tentatively smiled and nervously scratched his pigtail.

After offering a small smile, she waved her right hand dismissively and replied, "Don't worry about it. It's not so bad," Mara chuckled a bit, "Like I said, spreading chaos is kind of fun…Heh, one benefit we have is possessing a lot more leeway in doing things than mortals or gods have. Hence, we've got a lot more ways out of problems like yours with pledges, promises, and whatnot."

Ranma sighed. "Leeway with pledges. I sure have a lot of them to uphold. If I had some of that with mine, I could probably straighten everything out. Man, I wish I had that kind of life."

Mara's twin slashes flared and a dark energy seemed to seep out of the ground and surrounded her. Ranma yelped and became nervous as the same type of mist suddenly encircled him. Suddenly, pain unimaginable filled his being, his very soul. It felt as if he was being torn apart and put back together. As suddenly as the dark mist appeared, it extinguished. Mara simply said, "Wish granted."

After the shock wears off from the previous pain, Ranma felt different somehow, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He looked down at himself and noticed that although his pants were the same, his red silk shirt was not and was replaced by a shear black one. "What the hell happened to me!?!"

Mara seemed surprised herself for a few moment. She blinked incredulously at him, or more specifically, at one part of him. After recovering from her own shock, the demoness merely moved a hand to her mouth and chuckled evilly. She eyed him up and down. "That's exactly what happened." A sinister grin formed on her face. She pointed a finger at a nearby mirror. "Have a look for yourself."

Her words made him extremely nervous, but reluctantly he went over the mirror. When looking at his reflection, Ranma was shocked to find twin red slashes on his forehead, similar to those that Mara possessed, along with a red triangle under each eye, which now seemed to be a mixture of the previous blue-gray ones and blood red. After looking further up, Ranma was further stunned in noticing the drastic changes in his hair color. Where before it was a jet black, now it possessed streaks of crimson red intermingled with it, the same red as his girl form. He was only able to screech out, "W-what…?!?" His mouth opened wide at his exclamation, which subsequently showed how he had fangs as well.

Finding this unexpected turn of events quite amusing, Mara chuckled again and clasped a hand on his shoulder. She examined themselves both in the mirror and simply stated, "Welcome to the family, kid."

Ranma jumped around and gained some distance between himself and Mara. "W-what do you mean?"

She smirked in response. "Don't you get it yet, kid? Your wish has been granted. You wished for, and I quote, 'that kind of life.' The system processed that wish so that to get that kind of life, you had to be that kind of person." She dramatically paused. "So now, you are now a demon."

Ranma was by now slack-jawed and could only gawk at the blond. After a few moments of letting the information settling in, he managed to get out of his stupor. "Y-you have got to be kidding me! I can't be a demon!"

Mara simply shrugged her shoulders. "Well, that's the way the system saw your wish as. The demon marks," She pointed to her slashes for emphasis, "are proof enough."

Ranma stomped up to Mara and shouted, "Well, undo it then! I don't want to be a demon! I'm a martial artist and martial artists are supposed to protect! I can't do that as a demon."

Mara seemed surprised for a moment, but then tapped her finger thoughtfully to her chin. "Hmm, that should have actually done it. Only the client could break the contract and your words sounded like it." She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess we'll have to talk to the boss about it."

Hearing this, Ranma's anger dropped and he suddenly got very nervous. "What do you mean, like the, uh, devil or something."

Unable to contain herself, Mara broke out into laughter. After a few moments, she continued, "Something like that. The devil is just some legend created by humans a long time ago. No, I'm talking about Dai Makaichou Hild, or H, as we call her."

Ranma blinked. "Her?"

Remembering his personality profile, Mara smirked. "Oh, yeah. Keep in mind I read your file, kid, and I recall that you've got this thing about thinking woman being weaker than men." Her smirk turns cruel and Ranma shivered from it. "Well, I'll tell you this much. You don't stand a chance, in well, hell against me. So, if you show that kind of attitude in front of her, well, you get the drift…"

Ranma gulped and squeaked out. "Okay…but do we really have to go to…"

Before he could protest, Mara grabbed Ranma's shoulder and the two disappear, leaving only black mist behind.

End Prologue.

Author's Notes: Okay, so having Ranma getting a wish and screwing it up is not the most original of ideas. Before anyone can ask, Ranma is not a reincarnated demon. There is a different explanation as to why the contract could not be revoked. Also, I would not wait anytime soon for the goddesses' appearances. Other things will be happening beforehand. What will they be? Well, I guess you'll have to wait and see.

-ranmafan1


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ranma ½ and Ah! My Goddess. They were created by people a lot more imaginative than me. I am also not making any money off of this. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

Note: This story takes place after the Jusendo incident. Ranma is about to enter his junior year of high school. This story starts towards the end of the summer break.

Pursuing a New Path

by ranmafan1

Chapter 1: The New Guy

When one would describe Hell, the first terms that may come to mind are fire, brimstone, and endless torture. And for the most part, this was correct. However, lucky for Ranma Saotome he was about to enter Nifelheim, the home of the demons and other agents of chaos, and not Hell.

Ranma Saotome could not make anything out initially since his head was too busy spinning. Once everything came into focus, the sight that greeted him was nothing like he expected. Instead of the raging infernos he thought there would be burning, the atmosphere was quite tolerant. In place of the boiling pools of lava, there were gothic-styled high rises and cobblestone roadways. The endless screams of torment were missing as well, instead replaced with the casual conversations of those passing by. There were even children playing tag in the street. In fact, the whole place reminded Ranma of Medieval Europe from history class (which he actually enjoyed).

Then details started to assimilate into Ranma's brain. First was the fact that integrated into the medieval setting was the most advanced technology he had ever seen. The streets were lined with lampposts, which had floating balls of light on top of them. Within the vicinity he could see several archways were various… people were entering and exiting, seeming to vanish and disappear from them.

It was starting to occur to him that none of those walking around were human. Most were human-looking, a few even had similar demon markings as him and Mara. The majority, however, had distinct features that people usually did not have, such as tails and large bat wings protruding from their backs. Some with said appendages were even flying overhead.

Looking closer at the buildings, or castles as the case might be, Ranma noted some gargoyle like statues hanging on the sides of the building…Oh, wait. The statues jumped off the side and were now flying through the air. Actually when he looked at the sky Ranma noted that color is red, as if there was a perpetual evening. Ranma could not find a sun, though.

The most noticeable landmark of the area was the huge skyscraper that seemed to have everything revolve around it. He had never seen a building so tall or so wide before. The shear width of the building was that of at least all of Nerima and he had to strain his neck enough to find its top even at the far distance they were at. Curiously, while the majority of the building had a modernized feel to it, including having sheer black glass windows, the top of it was composed of a castle straight from the Dark Ages, with towers and the like. How they got the two pieces to artistically blend together he would never know.

Mara smirked at Ranma's dumbstruck expression. It was not often that there were newcomers to Nifelheim. She had to admit, it would be an impressive site for a first-time visitor. "Are you done gawking yet or should I wait a little bit more?"

Her voice snapped Ranma out of his stupor, but his wide eyes refocused on Mara. "This is hell?" 'This is the place of eternal torment…Seems pretty nice, actually.'

Mara wagged her finger in front of Ranma's face in a reprimanding manner. "Not quite. Demons and other such beings do not actually live in Hell. What you see here," gesturing with her hand, "is called Nifelheim."

This only confused him further. His brow furrows in concentration. "So, there is no Hell? That's just some legend, too."

"Actually," wagging her finger again, "there is a Hell. In fact, the only entrance for living entities is located several miles below the main office."

Ranma blinked at the information. "So, what, you just time stamp your hours of torture or something." He involuntarily shuddered. 'Damn, I do not want that kind of job. I've got to get this whole mess straightened out.'

The demoness scowled at the boy. "Demons do not actually torture souls. Hell is a self-running system. Souls that are damned are tormented by that system based upon the severity to the destruction of their karma. All we do is maintain the system. And believe me, Ranma," her gaze hardened and he could feel the severity of the statement to come, "any soul that is capable of destroying their karma to that limit has done things that would make you think that they were getting off easy."

Stunned is an understatement to what Ranma was feeling. In the extremely short time that he had known the demoness, he felt that she was not one to carry such a serious attitude about things, even when she briefly explained beforehand the rules demons had to follow. He simply nodded to her.

Offering a small smirk, she continued, "Okay, enough of that depressing talk. We're supposed to make people feel that way. We don't have to be that way ourselves." Gesturing towards a nearby archway, she continued, "Let's get this all straightened up." As they are about to walk through, Mara grabbed Ranma's shoulder again. Passing in the gate, they immediately disappeared from the street.

Ranma found that this teleportation thing got easier the more it was used since he lacked much of the nausea resultant from the last time. Glancing at his surroundings, Ranma noticed that he was in some sort of circular lobby. At the opposite side facing them was an elevator. Mara started to walk towards said location, pausing to turn around. "You coming." Snapped out of his revelry, he followed her. The doors automatically opened upon their approach and closed after they entered. Mara simply stated, "Head office," and the elevator doors opened, revealing a different floor.

A bit confused, Ranma asked, "Um, Mara, why couldn't we use those arch thingies to simply come here."

Not bothering turning around, she answered. "The 'arch thingies' are used to simply teleport people into and out of buildings. Different ones are used within the buildings themselves. It's more efficient that way."

They stepped out into the room, which had all the looks of a waiting room, a beautifully-decorated one though. The room was entirely designed of pale-gray marble, including a desk that was about thirty-some feet from them. Even the majestic door next to the desk was made of marble, but covered with runes of writing Ranma could not understand. Sitting at the table and filing her nails was a tall and beautiful woman with blue hair, eyes, and lips. Even the low-cut business suit she wore was blue. Though she was not standing up, Ranma could tell that she was over six feet tall. She did not have the demon markings he and Mara possess, but did have a pair of bat wings protruding from her back as well as her head. Ranma followed behind Mara up to the desk. "Sherra."

Said person did not stop her activities, but nodded and responded. "Mara." After a moment she continued, "You can go right in. The boss has been expecting you." She casually looked at the two. When her eyes focus on Ranma, they immediately changed from informal to hungry. A devilish grin (pun intended) settled on her features and she openly undressed Ranma with her eyes. "Well, hello there," she whispered in a husky tone.

Ranma was sweating bullets by the look she was giving him. He had seen it before, but something told him she was willing to act on that impulse right here and then. "Um, hello."

Mara sighed at the display of the succubus. "Not now, Sherra, we have an appointment to make."

Losing her grin, Sherra pouted at Mara. "Oh, well." She pushed a nearby button. "Go right on in." Allowing a grin to reform towards Ranma, which made him gulp, "And I'll see you later."

When the marble doors opened, Ranma's senses were overloaded. Powerful simply could not describe the being he felt inside…The strength of the aura was as far beyond Mara's as his was behind hers. Looking wide-eyed at Mara, she offered a victorious grin, clearly enjoying his anxiety. Almost as an afterthought, Mara gestured inside to capitalize on the predicament. In response, Ranma gulped and reluctantly followed her through the doors, which promptly closed after they entered. Sherra sighed into her chair, already plotting on how to get the pigtailed hunk into the sack.

Inside Hild's office…

The central office where Dai Makaichou Hild oversaw all of Nifelheim's operations was not like Ranma expected. He was getting real sick of all these surprises. The room itself was similarly made of gray marble as the waiting room except for the sheer volume being many, many times larger. No, what caught Ranma off guard were the various decorations scattered throughout. Large violet drapes hung off the walls. In the center of the room was a fountain where a female statue was pouring water into the pool below from a jar held in its hands. The pool's water flowed into the base of a large and beautiful tree. How the tree lived without apparent sunlight Ranma did not know and he was starting to believe that he should stop asking himself those questions around here.

Turning his gaze towards a large desk at the other end of the room, Ranma noted someone (whom he guessed was Hild) was sitting in a leather chair with its back towards the two other occupants. Ranma could only see hands typing along…some sort of keyboard. The computer looked as if it were just a hologram floating in mid-air. What surprised Ranma was the speed at which the person was typing. He could barely make out the fingers flying through the air. It made his most powerful Amaguriken pale in comparison! All of a sudden the fingers stopped, and one slim digit hit an apparent off key in mid-air since the whole display simply vanished.

When the chair turned around, Ranma could not contain himself and his jaw dropped in astonishment at the woman he saw. This happened for several reasons. First was the obvious fact that the woman was stunningly beautiful, with platinum white hair and tanned skin. Instead of slashes and triangles as demon marks like Ranma or Mara, hers were red star figures, one under each eye and on her forehead. The blue and purple dress she was wearing showed a lot more of her figure than even Mara's. However, the most startling fact of the woman was the state of her aura. Even though it possessed exponentially more maliciousness than Mara's, it somehow also contained a strong and equally powerful protective nature. It reminded him of a mother that way. She stood up and gracefully walked around the desk towards the two.

She greeted Mara with great familiarity. "Ma-chan! How great it is to see you again!" Turning her gaze towards the newcomer of Nifelheim, she continued, "And you must be Ranma Saotome. It's a pleasure to meet you." Hild favors him with a smile.

Ranma's eyes widened at the sincere gesture. He could only gape at the woman until Mara elbowed him in the ribs. Snapping out of his stupor, "Oh, um, yeah, I'm Ranma Saotome…Um, it's nice to meet you too, uh, Hild-sama." Ranma bowed respectfully.

Hild giggled slightly, while Mara chuckled. "Oh, no need for those honorifics around here, young man. You can call me Boss just like every other demon does."

"Oh, O-okay, um, Boss." Ranma laughed a little nervously and played with his pigtail a bit.

Of course, the head demon lord found this adorable. "Oh, aren't you a precious thing!" She proceeded to pinch his cheek a little, making Ranma sweatdrop heavily.

"So, uh, Boss, Mara," Ranma explained pointing to said demoness, "says that you can straighten this whole mess out. I mean, that wish was an accident and all. So this…contract can be just voided, right?" The last words were spoken with evident hope.

Hild sighed and her smile turned sad. "I'm sorry, Ranma, but what you are asking for is impossible."

His hopes shattered, Ranma could only manage out, "W-what…?" Mara herself was surprised by the revelation. The contract should only need to be invalidated. Right?

Unaffected by the reactions, she continued, "I am not surprised that even Mara does not realize this since this result from a wish is unprecedented. The ascension of a mortal to demonic status has happened before, but the last case of that occurring was thousands of years ago, and all such people were offered the positions upon their deaths. Although since that time, the practice has been banished on both sides since a few cases…didn't work out so well. You are the first and only mortal who has ever ascended this way…It must have been quite painful as a result."

His head downcast, Ranma was only able to nod.

"You must realize, Ranma, that all sentient life in the universe has a soul, whether they be mortal, demon, or god. What differs, however, is the nature to that soul. When mortals die, their souls are capable of reincarnation in the mortal plane, to be born again into new lives and exist through different experiences. Demons and gods do not age, and so their price has to be as they are for eternity, while mortals may be good in one lifetime or evil in another. It is part of the balance to the universe, those who live in mortality versus those in immortality.

As I have said when the practice was allowed, some mortals were offered in the past positions of divinity or demonhood. However, the choice was granted to them upon their deaths. If they accepted, their soul was permanently changed, fixed into the path that they chose. There was no turning back." She paused for a long moment, her eyes sad for the pigtailed martial artist. "I am sorry, Ranma, but you are permanently a demon. I cannot help you."

Each of her passing words sent more and more despair into Ranma's being. He simply forgot who he was talking to and screamed out what was coming to mind. "Sorry…Sorry! I didn't ask for this! It was just a stupid mistake with a wish I knew was going to be trouble from the start! It isn't fair that I should be stuck like…"

Hild interrupted Ranma's tirade. "Ranma." That simple word was not filled with anger or malice, but instead commanded respect and silenced him. "You should know more than most others that life is not always fair."

Ranma bowed his head slightly in shame. In a low voice, Ranma practically whispers, "I-I'm sorry, Hi- Boss, but I just don't see why things have to be this way."

Hild continued to examine Ranma, as if seeing whether he was ready to accept her next words or not. "Ranma, do you understand why you were given a wish?"

After raising his head, Ranma's brow furrowed in confusion. Mara showed similar signs. "Isn't it because I wouldn't fix up the fiancée mess when I could have and all the stuff that happened because of that?"

Putting a finger to her chin in contemplation on how to answer that question, she replied after a few moments. "That is part of the reason, but not fully…First, let me explain to you how the wish system works. Many years ago, the gods decided to reward those mortals of pure heart with a wish for all the good that they have brought into Midgard, or Earth as you would call it. In accordance to the rules of balance in all planes, demons must do the same with those opposite to the chosen of the gods. And hence, demonic wishes were born.

At first, it was thought that those candidates worthy of a wish from us would be the evil-hearted who craved destruction…However, all candidates must be processed through the system to ensure that they would not wish for something extreme that would upset the balance, such as the destruction of the world. With the current parameters, not enough candidates were being found to compensate for those chosen by Asgard…which is our name for Heaven. So, we had to change the parameters of the wish system. Instead of those with 'evil' hearts, the new constraints searched for candidates that promoted, thrived in, and enjoyed chaos. You had fit all of these criteria, Ranma."

For a few moments, Ranma seemed lost in contemplation. "I get how I helped make the mess worse by not fixing it early on, but what about those other two? How did I 'thrive in' and how the hell could I possibly enjoy it? I didn't like stupid assholes attacking me for thinking that I stole their 'loves' from them. It wasn't satisfying that those stupid old men would constantly harass me to marry when I ain't ready for it. And I sure as hell didn't like being malleted by that uncute tomboy everyday for putting my damn foot in my mouth or some fiancée glomping onto me."

Hild raised an eyebrow at his remarks, but didn't say anything. Instead, she walked towards the tree centered in the room and examined it, as if to find something special about it. Without facing him, she finally spoke. "Tell me, Ranma. What is the strength of your martial arts school, this Anything Goes? What makes it so powerful as compared to another art?"

This question seems to gave Mara a spark of realization, but Hild glanced at her to keep quiet any remark. Ranma, however, was totally confused as to the relevancy. Disregardless, he answers her. "Our adaptivity. Whatever style an opponent uses, we adapt to it, integrate it into our own, and defeat it."

After letting his own words to sink in, she continued, "And how good are you as compared to the others of your Art?"

Ranma snorted and remarked as usual. "I'm the best."

Hild glanced sharply at Ranma with a look that stated, 'You had better revise what you just said if you know what's good for you.'

Sweating a little under the gaze, he amended, "Um, okay, maybe the old ghoul and pervert are better than me, but the old man is the only one of them that's in Anything Goes. I still think, though, that I'm only one in our school with any real dedication to the Art."

Hild nodded slightly, showing her approval to his revision, which incidentally made Ranma silently sigh in relief.

"So I take it you must really enjoy your Art…Care to elaborate how the other practitioners do not have such dedication?"

Organizing his thoughts, he explains, "…I live for the Art just for its own sake. Everyone else in our school uses the Art to gain something from it. The founder, Happosai, is really good, but nowadays it's only because of his experience. That along with all the chasings and beatings he gets from women keeps up his endurance. He gave up long ago in trying to improve his Art in becoming a pervert and all. To him, the Art is to only help him steal panties and get what he wants…Oyaji…I hate to admit it but he could have been better than old freak if he kept up training. Hell, he did create two sets of powerful techniques. Same as the perv, though, he gave up on improving himself by becoming fat and lazy. To pops, the Art was something to help him get an easy life and retirement. Hell, his forbidden techniques were based on thievery…Old man Tendo…the man ain't got any stability to him. He just goes and cries one moment and the next its with his stupid Demon Head trick. To him, the Art is just something to hang onto…and Akane…well Akane just has a big temper and no focus. She expects to be as good as everybody else without working for it, but the way she has always practiced the Art, it's just some hobby."

There are a few moments of silence after Ranma completed his explanation. "And tell me, Ranma, how did your adaptivity to the Art you so love become so good?"

Shrugging indifferently, "Well, getting challenged at about anything and everything unpredictably 24/7 can do that to a person. I mean if it wa..sn't…." Ranma trailed off and his eyes widened in realization.

Hild fully turned around and smiled at the apparent comprehension. "That is correct, Ranma. In the depth of your heart, you enjoyed the chaos because it gave you the perfect opportunity to improve that which you most treasure, your Art. What you did not like were merely the results of the chaos."

His eyes still wide with insight, he spoke, more to himself it seemed. "A-all this time, a-and I never realized…" After a minute of contemplation, he finally regained focus onto Hild, who was standing before him again. "W-what's going to happen to me now?"

She folded her arms under her chest. "Well, that depends on you, Ranma. Now that you are a demon, you work for Nifelheim. As such, we need to find you a job."

"W-what kind of job?"

Hild shrugged indifferently. "I don't really know yet. You might become a field agent like Mara here. Or you may be a system administrator. It's also possible that you might be assigned as a guard to either the portal of Hell or even Helheim."

From the corner of his eye, Ranma noticed Mara blanch at the mention of the latter place and was quite surprised by it. Seeing how the demoness reacted in reference to the name, the martial artist had a feeling he would not like the explanation, but he had to ask anyway. "W-what is Helheim?"

Hild's visage noticeably darkened, and Ranma was glad that the expression was not directed at him. Her features obtained a faraway look. "All of reality consists of balances…male and female, good and evil,…existence and oblivion. Those beings that live for existence are in balance as well…the gods who exist for order, the demons who were made for chaos, and the mortals who live in between." By now, Ranma was thoroughly enraptured by the story, hanging onto every word.

"Long ago before the beginning of time, the Void, which only exists for nothingness, created five generals of immense power, the Titans…Ironically, or perhaps purposefully, the avatars of oblivion were based on the five elements of creation, which are wind, water, fire, earth, and lightning. For the first and only time, the gods and demons battled side-by-side. The war was long and costly on both sides, but, in the end, the forces of existence were able to seal away the abominations in an artificially made subspace which is called Helheim. Because only Nifelheim has the necessary system for maintaining such imprisonments, the duty fell onto us to guard the seal and make sure that it will not be broken."

Awed by the story, Ranma only whispered out, "Woah."

Hild smirked slightly at the rapt expression on Ranma's face. "So, do you still think that demons can be so detrimental to creation? Although results of our plans may lead to destruction, absolute oblivion is not on our priority list. If not for the combined efforts of both sides, the Void would have won the war so many eons ago and you or anyone else would not exist today.

The purpose of our kind is to bring chaos to reality. The simple truth is that without chaos, there would be no conflict and it is strife that leads to improvement upon everyone, whether it be demon, god, or mortal." After a few moments of letting her words sink in, she continued, "So, Ranma, do you feel better of your situation?"

Ranma was surprised that he actually did feel better about everything. Although he did not fully approve of his current situation, he did understand better the role of everything in the universe. He may not have liked the ideology and simplicity with which some things were explained, but she did mention that there were jobs available were he wouldn't have to hurt people. Tentatively looking at her in the eyes, and gaining strength by the moment, he replied, "I think that I will be able to live with this…I mean, it's just a new challenge for me, and Ranma Saotome does not give up on a challenge!"

Both Mara and Hild smirked at the confidence returning to his voice. 'It's seems that he is going to be alright,' was the similar thought.

In his typical nervous gesture, Ranma moved his hand behind his head and played with the pigtail. "Well, I don't think I'd be that great at the spreading chaos bit. I mean, everything I did wasn't really intentional, but those other jobs sound okay, especially being the guard one. I'd be real good at that."

Hild smiled mysteriously. "We shall see…In any case, what we need to get you is some training with your new status." Her smile widened at seeing him perk up at the word 'training.'

"Training…what kind of training?"

"Why spell casting of course!"

Ranma grimaced with distaste at that. "Ain't know way I'm learning magic. It ain't nothing but trouble."

Hild raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that your body is now powered by a magical essence, in particular, pishogue, and not the ki that you are accustomed with. Therefore, using attacks focused with body energy are going to be 'magical.'"

Sweating a little, Ranma tried a different approach. "Yeah well, the Art takes a lot of practice and dedication to get any good at using energy. Spells are just a bunch of words to do something simply."

Letting out an overly exaggerated sigh, Hild spoke, though it seemed more to herself. "I guess I should have expected an answer like this. I mean spell casting takes a lot of mental concentration and Ranma only seems being able to think with his fist." After another sigh, "Oh, well, at least I tried." Mara hid a chuckle behind a hand, recognizing what Hild was doing.

Furious at the blatant insult, "What did you say!?!" asked Ranma in an almost dangerous tone, disregarding to whom he was speaking.

Hild acted surprised, "Oh, are you still here?…Well I was just talking about how some spells can require long periods of intense concentration to accomplish, whereas your energy attacks only require a moment or two. Don't worry. I understand that it may be a bit beyond you. You don't have to learn it if you don't want to."

Ranma cheeks were practically red with frustration and anger. "Dammit! I am sick and tired of everyone thinking that I'm just some stupid jock! I may not talk the best and I am sure as hell not the best in school, but that doesn't make me a damn idiot!…I'll show you all! I'll learn your magic and I'll prove to you that Ranma Saotome isn't just some idiot!"

Raising an eyebrow, Hild asked, "Oh, so now you are going to learn spell casting?"

"Damn straight!"

Hild clapped her hands in apparent happiness. "Excellent! You will start your training immediately."

Ranma just looked dumbstruck at the sudden change in attitude and Mara could not hold in her laughter anymore. He slumped his shoulders in defeat. 'Dammit. I did it again. I really need to watch my damn mouth. It gets me into nothing but trouble.'

"Now all we need to find you is a tutor." She cocked an eyebrow at Mara, who upon noticing it, stopped laughing and started to sweat herself a little.

"N-now hold on a minute. I still have my assignment with the Norns and that mortal. I don't have time to play teacher!"

Hild waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, you'll have plenty of time to mess around with their lives later. My daughter does a good enough job by herself sometimes…Besides," her eyes slitted ever so slightly, "this is not a request."

Mara gulped and managed out, "Yes, Boss."

A smile returned to Hild's face. "Excellent. Before you go, we need to find your file and check its information." All of a sudden, the hologram computer appeared to Hild's right. After typing a little at her incredible speed, a picture appeared on the screen with various bits of information next to it. He noticed that the photo was him, which even had his current marks on the face. "Let's see, Ranma, you are a class three, category one, demon with a probationary license…Mara can explain what that means later. Your transport medium is water…"

Ranma interrupted Hild. "Transport medium?"

Turning her head slightly, "Hmm, oh, well, transport mediums are what allow you to go from place to place. Therefore, in your case, you can use water to go from Midgard to Nifelheim and vice versa, or anywhere in these two planes were water is available."

Reminded of his curse, "Um, couldn't I just do that transport thing that Mara did before."

"You could…however, that method requires a lot more energy to do."

Mara decided to add her two cents. "You see, Ranma, my transport medium are CD's and there weren't any nearby in your house to use, so I was sort of forced to transport the other way you mentioned."

"Oh, well, it's only because of the curse and I don't really feel like being a girl every time I do a, uh, transport."

"Oh, don't worry, Ranma, you don't actually have to touch the water to teleport. What the medium does is allow you to open a portal in it. Now, going back to your file…"

Now almost shyly, Ranma asked hopefully, "Um, Boss, with regards to my, uh, curse, do you think, that it can be, um, cured?" His look was almost pleading.

Once again, Hild smiled sadly. "I'm afraid not, Ranma." She noticed that his eyes reflected the disappointment he was obviously feeling. "You see, the magic of the Jusenkyo curse has actually been permanently fused with you as a result of your ascension."

Ranma's eyes bugged out, "What!?!"

Waving her hand to dismiss any tirade that would have followed, she continued, "When you became a demon, the magic of the Jusenkyo curse permanently mixed together with the magic of your new essence…But don't worry too much Ranma, Jusenkyo magic is much weaker than that which composes you. In time, you will be able to control the curse rather than have the water cause the change."

Ranma seemed to be a lot more placated by this. "O-okay. I can live with that…Control is good…It's not like I haven't gotten used to the curse anyway."

After a few moments of consideration, Hild added an afterthought. "You know, Ranma, it could be worse."

Now Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Nodding her head in affirmation, "Quite so. If you were in your cursed form when the wish was granted, you might have become permanently female."

Ranma's eye enlarged again. Gulping a bit, "Y-yeah, that's, um, worse."

Smiling a bit, she turned again to the screen and continued, "Let's see…transport medium is water…ah, and your secondary energy source is…alcohol." Mara raised an eyebrow at that.

"Um, secondary energy source?"

"Oh, secondary energy sources are what you eat or drink to replenish your energy when you can't get sustenance otherwise, which in a demon's case is negative emotions. Mortal food simply does not provide enough energy for our reserves…but don't worry, you can still eat mortal food."

Ranma gave out a small sigh of relief. He didn't want to give up food. He simply liked it too much after so many nights of starvation during his childhood. Then the rest of what was said sinks in, making him slightly nervous, "Um, Boss?"

"Yes."

Uncertainly, he asked, "Do you, uh, think that my, uh, secondary energy source could be, well, changed?…The thing is that I can't, um, well, I can't really, uh, drink too well." He blushed slightly, remembering the 'Romeo and Juliet" incident.

"Sorry, but that cannot be helped. It is what the system has chosen."

Ranma sighed. "Okay, I guess."

Mara came up and patted Ranma on the back. "Don't worry too much about it. I'll bring you up to par. It's my secondary energy source as well." She chuckled a bit evilly, causing Ranma to sweatdrop and become uneasy again.

"In either case, Ranma, with your dual gender nature, it may be possible for you to have another energy source, but you will need your full license to obtain it…So, before you go, do you have any questions?"

After a few moments of thought, he responded, "Well, several things. First off, what about all the people back home? I mean…I'm not really comfortable about telling everyone that I'm a demon."

Hild smiled reassuringly at him. "Don't worry, Ranma. You don't have to tell anyone that you don't want to…In fact, you should not tell anyone outside of your family unless necessary. What else?"

Hesitantly, he asked, "Well, this whole thing started when I basically said that you…we, um, demons get more leeway with pledges and all…D-do you think something can be done?"

"Hmm, well, something could probably be done, but you have more important things to worry about now, like obtaining your full license, which won't be until you complete your training."

Ranma sighed, but nodded in acceptance. "Okay. Last question. How is Mara going to get to train me if I'm going home, though? Everyone is gonna be gone only for a couple more days. I can't really miss school. I mean I don't really like it and all, but Mom seems to be really, um, enthusiastic about me getting an education, so…" The unspoken question was left hanging.

Hild considered the predicament carefully, when a glint came to her eyes. Both Ranma and Mara became very nervous at that look, for it didn't bode well for them. "Well, my dear Ranma and Mara, I have an easy solution." The sinister smile that was now sporting her face made Ranma sweat heavily. Mara recognized that look and she knew it meant that the Boss had a plan, one that only could mean trouble for her. "Mara, you are now Ranma's latest fiancée."

If there were crickets around, one would be able to hear them chirping for several moments. "What!?!" suddenly replied the duo in question.

Indifferent to the exclamation, Hild explained. "It's quite simple really. Ma-chan here will come to your home and announce that she is another fiancée that your father bartered for. Everyone will believe it because of your father's character, and your father won't be able to dispute it since he couldn't possibly remember all the times he sold you for dowries."

Ranma was able to stammer out, "B-but, um, Boss, when the other fiancées find out about it, I'll get beaten down for it!"

Raising an eyebrow, she retorted, "Oh, and what is going to be so different?"

Ranma blinked, realizing that nothing would be different. "Oh. Okay."

Mara sighed, but gave in. She knew that she would never have stood a chance of changing Hild's mind anyway. "Fine, Boss." A mischievous smile came to her face. "Besides, that means I get to spend plenty of 'quality' time with pretty boy here." She directed Ranma a predatory gaze, which Ranma sweated under.

"Oh, that's enough you two. There's plenty of time for that later. Make sure to stop by legal to fill out the appropriate paperwork, get a false dowry contract made-up, and obtain enough currency so as not to raise suspicion…Now before you go, there is something that I want you to do, Ranma." Her stare gained the utmost seriousness. Mara knew what was coming and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the high demon lord's antics.

"W-what is it?"

All of a sudden, Hild smiled, pulling out of nowhere a tray of…cookies. "Have a chocolate chip cookie. I baked them myself."

Ranma sweatdropped and successfully fought the impulse to facefault. "W-well, that's nice of you to offer, but…"

"I insist." Her eyes sparked dangerously, causing Ranma to 'eep'. Therefore, he quickly grabbed a cookie to prolong his continued health. A genuine smile appeared on the Hild's face. "There now, that wasn't so bad."

Taking a tentative bite, his eyes widened at the taste. "Hmm. This is real good, um, Boss."

"Why thank you, Ra-chan!"

Ranma blinked at the nickname, but did not comment.

"Well, you two have better go along. We all have things to do now. It was good meeting you, Ranma, and it was nice seeing you again, Ma-chan. I hope we all do this again sometime." She made little shooing gestures.

"Uh, yeah,…I, uh, hope so too….Well, uh, thanks, Boss, for talking with me and all." He made a small bow afterwards.

Mara came and grabbed his left arm. "Okay, 'dear', let's get going. See ya later, Boss." The two walked towards the marble doors, which opened when they neared them and closed upon their exit automatically.

Hild continued to stare at the entrance to her office for a few moments, a contemplative expression on her face. With a small sigh, the High Demon Lord gracefully walked back towards her desk and sat down. After a few minutes of thought, she lazily waved her hand in the air, which caused her holographic computer to reappear. After typing in a long sequence of numbers, Hild waited.

Suddenly, a picture of a person with indistinct features appeared on the screen. It was nearly impossible to find features of the individual due to the figure being veiled in light.

The figure finally spoke. "Hild, it has been a long time." The voice was full of warmth and compassion.

"Yes, it has." Hild let a small smile grace her face. "So, still going with the mysterious, all-knowing look, huh?" A degree of teasing could be noted within her dialogue.

The individual chuckled slightly. "It does serve my purposes." After a few moments later, he continued, "So, how goes the new recruit?"

Hild leaned back into her chair and considered his question a little. "Well enough. The child has potential. That much can be seen from his file alone…However, his very nature seems to be more suited towards your flock than mine."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Only time will tell," the voice cryptically answered.

"Indeed…What about on your end? This whole situation must be giving yours headaches as well."

"Nothing that they cannot handle. It shall work out in the end. I have faith in that."

"Oh…"

The two remained in amicable silence for several minutes, seeming to communicate without words and thought. Finally, Hild broke the quiet. "It has been good speaking with you."

"You as well," the figure replied with a hint of regret in its voice.

Hild simply nodded and pressed the off button. Several more moments had passed while she was lost in her own thoughts. Finally, she reached towards a drawer on her right and opened it. Gently reaching within, Hild grabbed a hold of a brilliantly-decorated violet box. Reverently, she opened it and pulled out a beautiful crystal rose. After studying it thoroughly once more, the Demon Lord gently placed it back into its container, followed by closing the box and putting the item back into its original spot within the drawer.

Afterwards, Hild sighed and talked to no one in particular, "Well, back to work."

Outside Hild's office…

After the doors closed behind him, Ranma let out a sigh of relief. "Boy, that was intense."

"Oh, you poor baby. Maybe you should lie down and let me give you a check-up."

Ranma blinked at the voice. That wasn't Mara's voice. Turning towards who spoke, his eyes bugged out at seeing Hild's secretary, Sherra, standing a few feet from him in a white nurse's outfit.

"Now why don't you lie down right here," patting her desk, "and let Sherra make it all feel better." A husky smile accompanied the offer.

Ranma gulped at the sight and was unable to respond . Mara just sighed and continued to drag Ranma towards the elevator. "Not now, Sherra, we have a lot of work to do."

Sherra pouted again at the demoness, "Hmph. Keeping him all to yourself. How selfish of you, Mara." Looking at Ranma, she winked. "See you later, handsome."

Ranma was still unresponsive from too much stimulation for the day and was led into the elevator. Only when the doors closed did he snap out of it. After blinking a couple of times, he sighed, "What have I gotten myself into now?"

Mara put an arm around Ranma's shoulders. "Cheer up, Ranma. Remember I'm here to help you now." As an afterthought she joyfully added, "This is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship."

Ranma merely looked at her, then bowed his head slightly and sighed again. "Oh, boy."

End Chapter 1.

Author's Notes: Well, this chapter was basically developed as the first major step in Ranma's transition and I think it turned out alright. Don't expect all chapters to come out this fast, however. It all depends on how the creative juices are flowing. I just thought that I should also note that with respect to Ah! My Goddess material, some elements are going to be taken from the OAV and some are going to come from the manga. Likewise, some things will be left out from the respective sources. We'll see as story progresses. Comments and suggestions would be appreciated. You are the ones who are reading the story.

-ranmafan1


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ranma ½, Ah! My Goddess, or any other trademarked/copyrighted product in this fanfiction. They were created by people a lot more imaginative than me. I am also not making any money off of this. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

Note: This story takes place after the Jusendo incident. Ranma is about to enter his junior year of high school. This story starts towards the end of the summer break.

Pursuing a New Path

by ranmafan1

Chapter 2: Business and Pleasure

Along the streets of Nifelheim, two figures could be seen walking. One was a beautiful woman that appeared to be in her early to mid twenties with white-blond hair and who was wearing a leather outfit deemed more appropriate for an S&M video rather than casual wear. The other person was a handsome young man with a pigtail who was wearing a shear black silk outfit. They seemed to be engaging in some conversation while walking through the cobblestone streets.

"So, where are we going again?"

Mara managed not to grimace at the question. For someone with such a high martial arts learning curve, he could sure be dense sometimes. "For the last time, we are going where the Boss told us to, and that is legal. We have to get you to fill out some paperwork and get a fake fiancée contract made up."

"I don't see why we couldn't use those arches to teleport, though. I mean, it would be easier."

"Easier it may be, but since I am going to be staying with you and not on the job, I'm in no hurry to go back. Besides, I thought that you might as well get a short tour of the place."

"I don't see why I gotta. It's not like I wanna be here anyway. I saw how to get to Hi-ur the Boss' office. All I gotta do is learn the teleport thing."

Shaking her head in exasperation, "Ranma, Ranma, Ranma. You do realize that you won't be going to her office all the time. Nifelheim is a very big place, and there are many and varied departments that you might have to work with from time to time. It's all about networking, Ranma."

Ranma stared blankly at her with the unfamiliar term, which caused Mara to sigh. "In other words, you need to know a lot of people who might have to help you and who might need yours."

"Oh…well, I guess." Another passerby greeted Mara. "Boy, you sure are popular around here."

Mara snorted in amusement. "Of course, what else do you expect from the premier agent on Midgard?"

Ranma dryly added, "And modest too?"

Mara cast the young man a withering glare. "Oh, and who are you to talk, Mr. 'Best Martial Artist.'"

Ranma had the decency to blush a little at the comeback. "Oh, um, right."

"Honestly, Ranma, you can be such a hypocrite sometimes?"

"Hey! What do ya mean by that?"

Mara abruptly stopped and turned to face the pigtailed martial artist. Putting her hands on her hips, she responded, "Come off it, Ranma. When you were talking to the Boss about being the best of your martial art school, you acted like you were some selfless saint compared to everyone." Mara walked closer and leaned towards Ranma, who blushed a little on the invasion of space. Her eyes seemed to bore into Ranma's. "You think that you're so different than the rest of them. Let's face facts here, shall we? The others may not practice martial arts with the same dedication that you do because they're too busy being a pervert, lazy, emotional, or angry, but your devotion is not based solely for the 'Art's sake.'"

At his confused face, she rolled her eyes and backed away to her normal posture. "Being the best feeds your little ego, just like my accomplishments do to mine. It's only because the others cause more damage that it seems like you are a better person." Her glare returns, "So, don't preach to me about how you are some saint while the rest of us are trash."

Ranma slightly bowed his head in shame. Tentatively, he spoke. "I'm, uh, sorry, Mara."

Mara waved off the apology and started to walk forward. "Whatever. Let's just keep going."

Ranma did not answer, but gained a thoughtful look to him as he walked near the demoness. 'Am I that different? Is my ego that bad? I know I have a pretty big one, but I didn't think it went this far.'

The rest of the walk was taken in silence.

A few minutes later, the two were standing in front of a building, whose architecture was the same castle type that he had noted throughout the walk. What set it apart from the others, however, was a large and familiar statue he had seen pictured in some courts of law in the United States. It was a large female statue holding a scale in one hand. There were two notable differences, the first being the lack of a blindfold, and the second was how the scale was noticeably unbalanced. "Hey, Mara, isn't that statue a little off?"

Smirking in reply, "For some things, we in Nifelheim tend to be a bit more realistic, justice being one of them…Heh, in some courts on Midgard, there are juries of peers that are supposed to decide whether someone is guilty of a crime or not, and they are to be objective about it." Scoffing at the thought, "Yeah right, as if…people all have their preconceived notions about everything and that destroys their fairness, hence," pointing towards the statue, "justice is not really blind."

Ranma scratched his head at the speech. "Man, I never thought of it like that." Frowning a little, "That's also a pretty gloomy look on things."

Shrugging her shoulders, "Yeah, well, most people don't like to think about it that way, mostly because they want to believe their world is nice and orderly…In any case, we're here. Let's get all this damn paperwork out of the way."

The two trekked up the stone stairs and past the statue into the building. He saw that the lobby was similar to the other one he was in, but far less decorated. As before, the two walked into the elevator, which opened upon their arrival at it. After closing, Mara stated, "Registrar." The doors opened, revealing a much more hectic scene than the last time he and Mara did this. Inside the room were rows upon rows of cubicles with…people of various shapes, sizes, and colors, seemingly hard at work on those weird hologram computers that Hild was using, though they were not typing nearly as fast as she was.

As before, Ranma hesitantly followed Mara through the rows of workers, who seemed oblivious to the two. They eventually stopped in front of a plain-looking door that simply had odd markings on the front door. Oddly enough, even though he had never seen the language before, he knew that it said "Supervisor." Unlike Hild, who ever was here did not have a secretary. Mara knocked on the door.

A few moments later, a gruff voice was heard. "Yeah, come in."

Upon entering the office, Ranma observed that it was nowhere near as breathtaking as Hild's. In fact, it was just plain, dull, and small (only about 10 feet by 10 feet). Taking notice of the person sitting at the desk, Ranma simply stared. The first time Ranma entered an office in Nifelheim, Ranma was eventually greeted with the site of Hild, a breathtaking and beautiful woman that would make supermodels weep with envy. Now, he saw a short, overweight, and green-skinned…man with two horns on his head.

The imp at the desk took his attention away from various paperwork and focused on Mara. "Ah, Mara, good to see you."

Mara nodded in response. "Same here, Harold."

Ranma could only think, 'Harold?'

Harold turned his attention towards the newcomer. "And you must be, Ranma?…Boy, you sure have been giving us all a big headache around here. Ascensions have been banned for millennia and here you have to find a loophole around it. Now, not only do we have to handle all the damn paperwork for that, but also for the system administrators who had to make some changes to the system to prevent it from happening again…" His tirade ends in muttering about know-it-all brats.

Dumbly, Ranma replied, "Um, sorry."

Harold waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, don't worry about. It may be a pain, but at least it's better than the same old, same old that we're used to around here." He leaned further back into his chair. "So, I guess you're here to fill out the paperwork."

Ranma turned to Mara, who nodded to him. "Uh, yes."

The short imp pressed a button, and seemingly out of nowhere, a huge stack of paperwork fell onto the desk in front of Ranma, whose eyes bulge at the sight. It was at least two feet tall!

"Oh, it looks a lot worse than it actually is. Make sure you read over everything carefully. Then sign and date were the X's are marked. Better get hopping. If you got any questions, just ask."

Ranma glanced at the stack, then looked pleadingly at Mara, who smirked in response. She merely sat down at one of the chairs at the side. After crossing her legs, she surprisingly took a flask from the cleavage of her leather outfit, unscrewed the cap, and took a swing of it. "Well, get to it."

Sighing his head in resignation, he simply asked Harold, "Do you gotta pen?"

Three hours later…

As he read through, wrote his signature, and dated the last form, Ranma collapsed against the back of the chair he was sitting on and let out a sigh of relief. Even with all of his martial arts conditioning, his hand was aching from continuous use. More importantly, however, was how tired he was starting to feel. Oddly enough, he did not feel a hunger in his stomach, just felt low on energy.

Throughout the whole deal, Mara was sitting on her chair and playing with a Gameboy, and from her scowls and random mutterings, he got the impression that she wasn't doing too well. Meanwhile, Harold was typing on his holographic computer and would occasionally take a quick glance at the forms Ranma completed.

"Everything looks in order. You can go now," Ranma sighed gratefully, "but before you do, here's your pager." A small black one appears out of nowhere in Harold's hand, which he subsequently handed to a dumbstruck Ranma.

"A pager?"

Harold gave a shrug towards his expression. "Well, this isn't Kami-sama's office, so we don't have access to lightning bolts."

Ranma looked at Harold, then to the pager, and back to Harold again. He finally shook his head and sighed. "Whatever."

Mara got up and stretched, which made Ranma hastily look away as certain parts of her body became prominent in doing so. "We all got one, Ranma. See…" She put the Gameboy down her front and pulled out a pager to show him.

Ranma sweatdropped at the act. 'Geez, how much stuff does she hide in there. Granted, she has a lot of room with her…' Ranma stopped that train of thought and blushed. He quickly placed the device in his pants' pocket. "Um, okay, so if that's, uh, it I guess we'll get going."

"Sure, sure, whatever. Just make sure to stop off at the Library to pick up a rule book."

Blinking at the statement, Ranma asked his thoughts. "Uh…Rule Book?"

Harold chuckled a bit. "Of course, we do have rules to follow around here you know…In fact, one of your requirements to get your full license is to finish reading it."

Ranma grumbled out. "Great. Just great. I'm a demon and I'm still getting homework."

"Oh, don't be so lazy, young man. A little reading can't hurt you." His somewhat evil snicker at the end did not ease Ranma's nerves.

Mara decided to interrupt their conversation. "Anyway, I'll be needing some Japanese money transferred to my account for expenses."

Harold nodded his head in agreement. "Of course." After typing a few commands, he was all done. "Now you have about 100 million yen to start off with. If you need more, you know what to do…Oh, and here is that fiancée contract I was told to give you."

While the two conversed, Ranma gaped at the sheer amount of money that was casually distributed. "Um, excuse me?" Once he had the two's attention, he continued, "Uh, 100 million, don't you think that's a little overboard. I mean, that's, well, that's a fortune!"

Both Mara and Harold glanced at each other and then laughed at his comments, which irritated him to no end. He had been out of the loop many times before, but it seemed to be a constant occurrence around here. Harold decided to explain things further. "Don't worry about it, Ranma. That's only chump change to us. Nifelheim, as well as Asgard, both have investments in many companies throughout Midgard. Not only that, but we get commissions on various patents we have. In simple terms, Nifelheim has more money that you can imagine."

"What so, you just don't make the money?"

Harold scoffed at the notion. "Of course, not. We can't simply create the money since that would have drastic effects on the economic conditions on Midgard, ones that are beyond our boundaries."

"Ok, whatever." He was starting to get a headache with a lot of his perceptions being tossed out the window. "Can we get going now?" As an afterthought, he replied to the shorter imp, "Oh, and, uh, thanks."

"Sure. No problem. See you around. See you later, Mara."

The demoness nodded in response. "Later, Harold." The two exited the office and returned towards the elevator. Turning to Ranma while continuing her pace, she remarked, "Just one more stop, kid."

Ranma scowled at her. "Would you stop calling me 'kid'? You don't look that much older than me."

Mara's response was a brief bout of laughter. "Well, 'kid', every mortal… or in your case, former mortal, are kids to me in terms of age."

Ranma's scowl lessened at that. "Yeah, whatever. Look can we get something to eat before we get this rulebook. I feel really tired."

Slipping out her flask, she handed it towards Ranma. "Here, have some."

Remembering where the object came from, Ranma was very hesitant to take it. In fact, he was near panicking looking at it. "Um, no thanks."

Sighing, Mara reminded him, "Ranma, remember what the Boss said, your secondary energy source is alcohol. You can eat all the food you want, but it simply isn't going to do all that much for you."

Blinking in realization, Ranma sighed. "I guess." Hesitantly he grabbed the container, and opened it. Gulping a bit of air, he gathered up some courage and quickly took a swing from it, which is followed by a coughing fit from the taste.

Mara patted him a bit on the back until he got himself under control. "Better?"

Surprisingly, he did feel better. After taking a look at the flask and handing it back to Mara, he replied, "Actually, yeah…Man, that's weird. That stuff usually puts ya out, not wakes ya up."

The blond demoness shrugged indifferently. "Well, it will if ya drink enough of it, just like mortals. Don't worry, you'll get a high enough tolerance eventually." By now, the pair have exited the building and are on the streets of Nifelheim again. "So, do you still want to go somewhere to eat. I know a few good places around."

Ranma looked at her uncertainly. "Um, I guess. I ain't gonna stop eating just because I don't have to now."

"Of course not. That would be pretty damn stupid." Putting a finger to her chin in concentration, she thought over the various places that they could visit. She wanted a place with good drinks, good food, and would be embarrassing as hell for Ranma. All in good fun, of course. Or perhaps it would be 'bad' fun for him. After a few moments of thought, she snapped her fingers as a place comes to mind. Putting on a smile that didn't show too much cheer, but something more menacing, she exclaimed, "I've got the perfect place in mind!" Mara added after a moment's thought, "My treat," and chuckled to some joke only she understood.

Suddenly, Ranma did not feel so eager for food. "On second thought, why don't we just go that library."

Looping her arm around his, "Now, now. None of that. Let's get going, 'dear.'"

The anxiety Ranma was feeling just jumped several levels. He looked up at the sky and was about to pray to any god that was listening, but winced a moment later when realizing how useless that would be now.

A few minutes later…

Still arm-in-arm, Ranma and Mara were standing outside of the chosen restaurant. Two large bonfires, one on each side of the front entrance, were lit for decoration. Flashing above the entrance in large neon lights were the words…

"Hell's Paradise," deadpanned Ranma.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, I didn't name it. Let's get going." Mara dragged a reluctant and nervous Ranma through the front entrance.

Upon entering the establishment, Ranma's eyes bulged, almost to the point of falling out of their sockets. If he were Ryoga, he would have passed out with a massive nosebleed.

Now one must understand that Ranma had been put through more compromising situations with the opposite sex (when he's male) for the past couple years than the rest of the males of Nerima combined, excluding Happosai. As such, he had seen enough female flesh so that, if need be, he could have a mental resistance equivalent to the physical ones obtained through the Bakusai Tengetsu training. However, what he currently saw crumbled those mental constraints into dust quite easily.

Now the restaurant was not per se a strip club since all of the staff was wearing clothing. What was still disconcerting for Ranma, however, was the fact the uniforms, if you could call them that, were basically skimpy two-piece swimsuit ensembles, which reflected their various hair colors. The most disturbing part of the whole scenario was how beautiful all the women were, all of them paling Miss Hinako's adult body in figure. All of them sported the bat wings on their back and head as he saw with Hild's secretary. There was only one logical thought that was able to process through Ranma's mind now. 'My god, I'm in Happosai's version of heaven.' Kind of ironic the more he thought of it.

A small part of his brain not entranced by the staff noted how nice the interior looked. Coinciding with its name, torches seemed to give the place lighting in addition to the strange glowing ball lamps, similar to the ones out in the streets. Oddly enough, there were various fountains around as well, including a waterfall one in the center of the room. What was also strange about the setup was that the area was much larger than how it appeared on the outside.

After a few moments of simply gawking at the place, Ranma was able to find his voice. He turned to Mara and asked bluntly, "You have got to be kidding?"

Mara herself was already having a blast by simply seeing the incredulous expression on Ranma's face. Hey, if she was going to be stuck with this job, she was going to do it her way! "Of course not." Gripping his arm a bit tighter, she talked in a ultra-cutesy voice (which was really disturbing coming from Mara), "Now aren't I a great fiancée, taking my man to be surrounded by such beautiful women. I bet your other fiancées wouldn't do this for you."

Trying to ignore the tone of her voice, Ranma had to admit, she was right about that one. If any of the other fiancées knew he was in somewhere like this, he would probably get beaten to a pulp. "W-well, yeah, I guess you're right about that."

Mara decided that Ranma was teased enough…for now. "Enough of that, let's gets some grub." One thing that escaped Mara's notice, however, was that she did not let go of his arm.

Still unsure of the situation, Ranma resolved to play along. He was getting food. "Um, okay."

They walked towards the stand were the hostess was waiting. Like the rest of the staff working, she was amazingly stunning with hair color similar to Shampoo's. Even so, the Amazon princess would probably kill for a body like the one standing in front of them. "Welcome to Hell's Paradise. Table for two." She flashed Ranma a predatory smile while slowly undressing him from head to toe. The hostess made no effort to conceal her actions, and it was becoming quite unnerving.

Mara smirked at Ranma's antics. This was exactly the kind of reaction she wanted to get out of the pigtailed demon. It was just too easy to get him embarrassed like this. 'Besides,' she noted internally, 'He's pretty cute all flustered.' She shook her head to clear those thoughts away. Seeing how Ranma was unable to speak at the moment, Mara interjected on their behalf. "Yep. Table for two would be fine."

"Right this way." Reluctantly, the hostess turned her view away from Ranma.

As the two made their way to a table, Ranma felt the eyes of many people on him, hungry eyes that saw something that they wanted to taste. Taking a few nervous glances around him, he noted many of the waitresses looking directly at him, licking their lips in suggestive fashions. He was also aware now of other patrons giving him the evil eye for taking the workers' attention from them. All in all, it was not something Ranma was unaccustomed to since it had happened before at Furinken, but it had not been at this level.

Therefore, it was with no small amount of relief that their table was not so much in the open. At least this way, he could avoid the various stares he was receiving. As Mara let go of his arm (to Ranma's relief), he was about to go over to his chair when he heard Mara clearing her throat. Turning back, he looked back at her questioningly. With a bit of impatience, she folded her arms under her chest and tapped her foot. Remembering some of the etiquette manners his mother had been drilling into him, Ranma sheepishly pulled out Mara's chair for her and helped push it in when she seated herself.

After seating himself, the hostess announced, "Enjoy your meals." Giving a final grin and wink to Ranma, the hostess excused herself with a bit more sway in her hips, causing Ranma to sweatdrop, though his eyes involuntarily looked at the sight.

"Do you like the view?" The dry-toned voice interrupted his gaze.

He smacked his head, trying to force away the imagery. 'Geez, maybe Akane's right. Maybe I am a pervert.' Ranma then noticed that Mara was staring at him with an expressionless face. "Uhhh…"

"Yes?" Mara asked with the same dead voice. Externally, she seemed to be mad at Ranma's lack of attention, but on the inside, she was having so much fun. Who would have thought he would be this easy to manipulate? 'Probably would do anything if I faked a few tears.' If she was going to be his teacher, she had to break him out of these habits. They would get him into big trouble in the future, especially when talking with other demons. Heh, if he was going to be her pupil, then a failure on his part would reflect badly on her. That's why she was going to do this. Not like she was starting to like him or nothing. Right? 'Right,' she answered herself.

Ranma was starting to sweat under her gaze. What did he do? Okay, he knew what he did, but that wasn't the point. They're not really fiancées, so why should she care? The realization struck him like one of Akane's mallets. She's just pretending wasn't she! 'Damn'it. Stupid, oyaji! It's all your damn fault I act this way.' His expression turned from one of nervousness to dry humor. "Ha. Ha. Very funny, Mara."

Losing her facial mask, Mara pouted out, "Oh, poo, your no fun." She was tempted to continue with the charade, but decided that was enough for one day. Besides, manipulating people through faking her emotions was not her forte, although it seemed easier around Ranma. She tended towards the grandiose plans that brought lots of suffering.

Anyway, it's not like she couldn't do this some other time since the reaction seemed to be highly ingrained within him. Mara briefly wondered what she can get him to do with the cute puppy dog look. 'Eh, I'll save that for a rainy day.'

In her peripheral vision, she noticed a waitress was walking towards their table, wearing the same ravenous expression towards her companion. She was a little surprised by all the attention Ranma was getting. Looking at the martial artist, she could clearly see how handsome he was. Hell, she would had to be blind in not noticing it, but this was ridiculous. Taking a closer look, Mara revised her opinion. 'Okay, maybe not so ridiculous.'

"Good evening and welcome to Hell's Paradise. Would you like something to drink?"

Before Ranma could utter a word, Mara spoke for them. "We'll have two Devil's Sunrises with a lemon twist."

The waitress nodded in acceptance. "Good choice. I'll be back in a minute with your drinks."

Puzzled, Ranma was about to question Mara about the choice in drinks when she interrupted him. "Remember, you need to drink alcohol from now on. You'd better get used to it. That shot you had before won't last forever."

Blinking a few times, Ranma simply muttered, "Oh…"

"You should really think about getting a flask for yourself you know. You'll need a drink every now and then."

Ranma squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. "I guess so." He didn't really like the idea that he had to drink for energy now. Usually, he avoided the stuff since it impaired reflexes and such. Giving a sigh, he thought, 'I guess I'll have to get over that too. Well, at least there won't be any shortage at the dojo the way Pops and Mr. Tendo drink."

After a few moments, the waitress returned with their drinks. She took out a small electronic notpad. "So what will it be?"

A little confused, Ranma asked, "Wait, um, we didn't get any menus?"

Looking quite smug at the moment, Mara smirked and explained to him, "Just order anything you want and they'll get it for you."

"But we won't know how much it costs!"

Grinning a bit wider, she elaborated, "Well, it doesn't cost anything, of course."

"Huh!?!" stated an incredulous Ranma, his eyes wide in disbelief.

Mara only shrugged indifferently. "When you work for Nifelheim, you do get certain privileges. This is just one of them."

In an eerily calm voice, Ranma lowered his head until his bangs covered his eyes and asked her, "So, you are saying that I can eat and drink anything without having to pay for it?"

"Um, yes," tentatively answered Mara.

Ranma suddenly lifted his face. In his eyes, small sparkles seemed to appear within, giving a nauseatingly sweet picture. It also looked as if repressed tears are forming. The overall effect was quite disturbing and caused both Mara and the waitress to sweatdrop at the sight. The other workers and patrons glancing at the interaction also sweatdropped.

"I-It's like a dream come true. M-maybe this is really heaven."

By now, Mara was pretty freaked out by Ranma's abnormal behavior (at least in respect to what she had seen so far). "Um, Ranma?"

Ranma's expression settled upon a grin. Now this smile was not an ordinary one. Oh, no, this smile was one more appropriate on Mara when she had some insidious plot in mind for the Norns. The waitress took one look at his grin and knew she was going to be earning her keep tonight. Mara was starting to think that this was a big mistake.

"Well, in that case, I'll have a 12 ounce T-bone steak, 10-ounce lobster tail,…," and so for the next half a minute, Ranma rambled off various foods to the poor waitress, who was frantically scribbling them down. "…oh, and don't forget a side order of fries."

"Would that be all, sir?" the waitress asked Ranma dryly.

After a moment's consideration, "On second thought, I'll also have a garden salad with Italian dressing." Mara and the waitress resisted the urge to facefault with the answer to the sarcastic question.

The waitress turned to Mara and wryly asked, "And you, miss?"

Mara looked at the worker dazedly. "I'll have…a chicken salad, no dressing."

"I'll be back with your orders…in a bit."

After the waitress leaves, Mara looked back to Ranma and asked, "You know it's not polite to waste all that food even if it is free (not that politeness is a top priority around here)."

Ranma looked blankly at her for a moment before realization kicked in. He smirked arrogantly, "Oh, it won't go to waste."

Mara's left eye twitched. "You can't possibly expect me to believe that you can eat all of that food by yourself."

"Why not? It's not like I would have ordered all that food and not eat it."

After a moment's thought, an idea came to Mara and made her smile. "Care to make a bet?"

Now this made Ranma nervous, reminding him of previous dealings with Nabiki. "What kind of bet?"

"Oh nothing much. I bet that you can't eat all of that food by yourself."

Ranma snorted, his confidence returning with the certainty of his victory, but nonetheless a bit cautious. "Yeah, well, what do you want out of it?"

Giving a seductive smile, Mara leaned forward and practically purred out, "A romantic evening…just the two of us…my choice what we do."

Not expecting this answer, Ranma locked up. He was only able to mumble out incoherent responses. "Um..ur…uh."

Internally, Mara was glad she was in control of the situation again. His unexpected food order temporarily threw her off her game, but now she was back into it. Besides, it's incredibly funny to get him embarrassed this easily. "What is it, Ranma?…You're not…scared…are you?"

Being in familiar territory, namely challenging his courage, Ranma got out of his stupor and regained his bearings. "Ranma Saotome ain't afraid of nothing!"

Mara raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that mean you're afraid of something?" She was tempted to mention cats, but thought that might be a bit cruel, even for her. She herself had weaknesses that were beyond her control. Even though she did not know the specifics of what the Neko-ken training involved, she had heard that it created a fear of cats.

Ranma growled a little, but before he could protest the interpretation of his words, Mara continued, "Okay Ranma, if you win I'll even teach you a couple of 'special' spells. Do we have a deal?"

Had Ranma been thinking clearly, he would have asked for specifics, but thinking outside of martial arts had never been Ranma's strong point. Mara knew Ranma was not stupid, far from it from the brief descriptions of what she had read in his profile, but he tended not to think outside a physical confrontation. If he was going to make it in Nifelheim, Mara knew Ranma needed to start thinking differently.

"Fine," Ranma gruffly answered.

And, apparently, it was going to take a while for it to sink in.

After several minutes of silence, Ranma was able to cool down a bit. He tentatively took a sip of his drink, to which he was surprised in finding it quite delicious. "Hey this stuff's pretty good. A lot better than that other stuff you gave me."

"Well it is a mixed drink. That other 'stuff' was straight liquor."

After taking a few more sips of the drink, he was finding himself more refreshed and less tired than before. Ranma found it exceptionally weird that he could feel more energetic from drinking something that is supposed to do the opposite. He was careful, however, not to get too careless when consuming the beverage since he had no desire to be drunk off his ass for the rest of the evening.

So while the two were waiting for their food, which was taking so long due to Ranma's large order, Ranma kept taking in the layout of the restaurant. He also noted that as various waitresses passed by they would give him long, hungry stares and put an extra sway in their hips. It was quite disconcerting.

Mara was content on seeing the various blushes and embarrassment expressions that relayed on Ranma's face when the workers would walk by them, most of whom did not really need to go in their direction.

Of course, her fun was ruined because of Ranma's next comment. "Why are all these women staring at me like that?"

'He can't be that clueless!' was the prevalent thought going through a shocked Mara's mind.

Ranma was not actually being as clueless as Mara believed. He was well aware of what those stares mean, mostly due to past experiences with several unwanted fiancées. "I mean, I got those looks before, but not by this amount of people at one time."

'Okay, he's not that dense, he's just got one of the biggest egos I've ever seen.' Out loud she stated matter-of-factly, "Well, they are succubae, Ranma."

Ranma looked blankly at her, not comprehending the unusual term.

"Sex demons."

This made Ranma's eyes widen considerably, nearly saucer size. As if one of Akane's mallets was about to knock him into orbit, he became extremely nervous and apprehensively looked around at the workers that were staring at him. Suddenly, everything fell into place, though this did nothing to calm his nerves.

Mara raised an eyebrow at Ranma's reaction. The young demon seemed ready to bolt at a pin-drop. She was not too surprised by his response since, despite his experience with mythical creatures, he most likely had never met any succubae. "Don't worry about it. They won't jump you here." The tension apparent in his muscles relaxed. She smirked. "Unless you ask them to." Poof, instant tension again. After waiting a little bit, Mara decided he has done enough sweating for now. "Oh, don't worry, Ranma. This is just a part-time job for them. Just as we need alcohol for secondary energy reserves, lust vibrations do the same for succubae. They don't always need sex to replenish their energy."

"Um, right, okay, yeah, that's fine," babbled out Ranma.

Mara shook her head at Ranma's naivety. It was quite astounding considering his life so far.

Ranma eventually got himself under some measure of control. "Lust vibrations, huh? Sounds sort of like Happosai to me."

Mara's features puzzled at the name. "Happosai? You mentioned that name when speaking to the Boss. How is this similar to him?…He's the pervert, right."

The pigtailed demon scratched his head in awkwardness on how to explain the grandmaster's pastime. "Yeah, somehow Happosai has learned to drain female ki from, um, their undergarments, and, well, groping them," sheepishly replied Ranma.

With more time to contemplate the current conversation than at Hild's office, Mara thought carefully over the name. 'Happosai. Happosai. Where have I heard that name before?'

"Mara?" asked Ranma, interrupting said person's thoughts.

"Oh, just something on my mind. No big deal." 'Probably isn't important, anyway.'

"Actually I was just going to say that the food is coming." Ranma timidly pointed a finger. Following the line of direction, she sweatdropped slightly at seeing a small procession of tray carts heading towards them, with their waitress in the lead.

Wordlessly the employee grabbed a small plate off her cart and hands the dinner to Mara. After which, the waitress announced, "Enjoy your meal." Turning to Ranma, she tentatively added, "And…um, there you go."

Looking at Ranma, Mara's sweatdrop increased upon noting how the young Saotome was scanning through the various carts like a kid in a candy store. "Could you…just choose something?"

Not bothering to reply, Ranma merely nodded and grabs the lobster tail plate and placed it in front of him. For a few instants, he stared at the meal in front of him as if he was going to figure out a big puzzle.

Getting a little impatient from him not doing anything, Mara asked, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Uh…how do I eat it?"

Once again, through remarkable self-control, Mara was able to prevent herself from facefaulting. It was much easier to do since she is sitting down. The various waitresses who were covertly watching the proceedings had no such aid and thus found their faces firmly implanted on the ground, which caused many of the patrons to sweatdrop.

With strained patience, Mara was able to manage out, "You mean to tell me you ordered all of that food and have never used the appropriate utensils to eat them with."

Sheepishly, Ranma answered, "Um, yeah."

Mara had a slight twitch in her left eye. "Then, pray tell how you knew about all of these meals in the first place."

"TV, of course."

"Of…course…Well…you just take that one utensil there and use it to crack it open. Simple, ne?"

"Um, yeah, you know I only ever had to use chopsticks, a fork, and knife before?"

"Let's…just eat."

And so the meal commenced, at least it did for Ranma. For once the infamous Saotome stomach started to digest delicacies that it never consumed before, it craved more and more. Mara could only watch with wide eyes at the spectacle. She was so absorbed in the show that she temporarily forget about her fork, which was frozen in place on its way up to her mouth with a piece of chicken on it. Ranma would have been impressed even with himself at the speed at which he was consuming the food. However, he was too busy stuffing his face to realize now he was combining Saotome-eating style with demon-enhanced speed. The results were quite impressive.

Had it the been several months ago, Mara would had been embarrassed as possible since Ranma's manners were nearly non-existent. This was before his mother insisted upon instructing her son in proper eating habits, which required generally threatening a certain part-time panda with a certain family katana. Surprisingly enough, due to his mother's patient and steadfast influence, she was able to instill within him the basics. The food speed-eating training, however, still had a long way to go to get rid of due to it being so thoroughly ingrained within Ranma's psyche. So what was basically occurring was a refined version of the Saotome eating ryu, one with the trained reflexes and speed techniques, but also with a certain class necessary to maintain some measure of manners, namely all of the food ending in the mouth and chewing with one's mouth closed.

After about twenty minutes into the meal, Mara was pondering of why this was not mentioned in the short version of the file she was given. It certainly was impressive enough. Absently, she also noted that she had yet to touch her own food. Glancing at Ranma again, Mara became aware of the fact that he did not seem ready to be slowing down anytime soon. Taking a brief scan of the room, she observed how all of the people in the restaurant, both the staff and patrons had paused in their activities to watch the martial artist devour his meals. She shrugged then. 'Oh well, so it looks like I'll lose the bet. Not that big of a deal on my part.' She smirked at the thought. 'I wonder how long it will take for him to figure it out.'

Time seemed to just flow by as everyone continued to be amazed by Ranma's eating ability. Mara had long ago finished her meal and was simply entertaining herself with seeing the various gawking and exclamations of disbelief circulating through the establishment. But all good things must come to an end, and it happened here with Ranma finishing his last meal.

"Ah, that was great." Off hand, Ranma could not remember anytime he had actually had so much food. His contemplation were cut short upon hearing a round of applause resound throughout. Not knowing what else to do, he timidly waved at crowd in recognition. Apparently, his eating performance became an enjoyable spectacle for everyone. Unknown to him, the show he unwittingly gave today will drastically increase the business for the restaurant since rumors will quickly spread of what happened. People around Nifelheim will come there to see if they could catch the "pigtailed eating machine." This will cause the various managers and employees of "Hell's Paradise" to believe they are indebted to Ranma. Of course, they will subsequently feel the need to show their gratitude to the handsome, I mean, nice young demon.

But Ranma was not thinking along those lines now. The icing on the cake was how he actually won a bet. He had always been terrible with his dealings with Nabiki, and he could not really play poker too well. For Ranma, this was quite a monumental event. "So, what are these special spells that you're going to teach me?"

Mara looked at him innocently. "Why Ranma all of the spells I am supposed to teach you are special."

Ranma blinked a few times in disbelief. After comprehension kicks in, Ranma put his right hand on his head and groaned. He had been duped again. After dealing with Nabiki for so long, he thought he could at least have had some hang to this. In retrospect, he realized that his pride and ego had gotten in the way as always. He was too excited by the prospect of winning to clearly understand the details to the wording of what Mara's deal was. 'Damn.'

"Consider this a lesson, Ranma. When making deals, always look for loopholes within the wordings."

"I kinda figured that out already," Ranma replied dryly.

Mara simply looked smug . "Well, good. We'll have to see how much you learned next time. So are you ready to go?"

Ranma blinked a few times. "What are you talking about? We haven't had dessert yet."

The staff facefaulted again, which was quite the show for some of patrons, while everyone else, including Mara, heavily sweatdropped.

After another round of eating, Ranma was finally full, an accomplishment seen few times since going into his teenage years. "Okay, I'm done now…Geez, Mara, are you sure you ate enough. I mean, you only had that salad and a cup of ice cream."

"I…wasn't that hungry." 'And I actually ate a normal amount compared with everyone else here,' she added mentally.

Ranma shrugged indifferently. He was full and that was making him happy. Knowing that he did not have to pay a yen for it made him even happier. 'This whole demon thing might not be too bad after all.'

"Excuse us, young man."

The duo turn and are greeted with the cooking staff of "Hell's Paradise." As with all the employees of the restaurant, the five chefs were incredibly beautiful women with no flaws on their bodies. As with the rest of the staff, they also wore the skimpy uniforms. The only distinctions between them and the other employees were the white chef hats they adorned in addition to the transparent aprons.

Hesitantly, Ranma asked, "Uh, yes?"

Putting on a killer smile, the head chef asked, "We were told that you were the one who had that large order before. Is that true?"

Her and her subordinates' expressions did not put Ranma at ease. They were like tigresses that had found their prey, though the more suitable analogy would be tigresses in heat.

With even more anxiety, Ranma tentatively replied, "Yes."

This made the cooking staff's hormones surge even higher. The hungry expression became even more pronounced. Some of them were even licking their lips with anticipation.

"Mara?" squeaked out Ranma.

The blond demoness was barely able to keep her laughter in check at the latest development. She should have realized it sooner that this would happen, but she had temporarily forgotten the rumors. Apparently, they were true.

Out of the hearing range of the succubae, Mara whispered to Ranma, "You see, Ranma, rumor is that the cooking staff here have various food fetishes," Ranma's eyes widened and Mara smirked, "It's also said that they get incredibly turned on by good-looking men that appreciate food as much as them." Her smirk turned a little sinister. "It seems that they want you to have them for dessert too."

Indeed. The cooking staff for "Hell's Paradise" was very interested in the pigtailed demon. They were quite surprised to have been given such a large order by one of the waitresses. At first, they had thought that there was an unexpected party that decided to drop by. Then they learned that the order besides one dish was for a single person! The very thought made them tingle with anticipation. However, the chefs were not going to put all their hopes into an unknown. For all they knew, he could have been someone who was just fat and hungry. They may be succubae, but they had their standards too!

Then the opportunity arose to see the person in question after his meal was completed. Sneaking a glance outside the kitchen, their heart rates accelerated drastically when their hopes and dreams were answered. Finally someone who loved food as much as they do and was as handsome as they were beautiful. It almost made them cry in sheer joy. Having worked together for so long and having so similar interests, the cooking staff could practically read each other's minds, and they had no qualms about sharing the man of their dreams.

Mara's latest information kicked the Saotome's brain into hyperdrive rather than shutting it down. When in this state, the martial artist had been able to devise many techniques and revisions of techniques to beat powerful foes. The brilliant survival strategy that his mind came up with to get out of this situation was…to run really fast and really far away. Yes, the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts Final Attack struck again.

Ranma babbled out, "Thankyouforthedeliciousfoodbutwereallyhavetobegoinggoodbye!" He bowed quickly, grabbed Mara's hand, and zipped past everyone with Mara flapping helplessly in the air. The two were outside of the entrance before anyone could blink.

When the cooking staff finally understood what had happened, they looked longingly at the entry with pleading expressions. Then their faces changed from ones of yearning to ones of determination. They were not going to let this one get away! As if thinking of one mind, the five chefs looked towards one another and nodded. They'll find the pigtailed man wherever he may be! Curiously, they could not recall having seen him in the establishment before. Maybe he's generally stationed on Midgard. That would make sense then. If that was the case, then maybe it was time for an extended vacation.

End Chapter 2.

Author's Notes: I don't really have anything to say about this chapter. It was a little longer than usual, but I would not expect all of them to be this lengthy. The chapter also took a little longer since there were a couple of scenes in it that were not previously going to be there. Comments and criticism are appreciated. E-mail address is 

-ranmafan1


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ranma ½, Ah! My Goddess, or any other trademarked/copyrighted product in this fanfiction. They were created by people a lot more imaginative than me. I am also not making any money off of this. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

Note: This story takes place after the Jusendo incident. Ranma is about to enter his junior year of high school. This story starts towards the end of the summer break.

Pursuing a New Path

by ranmafan1

Chapter 3: Lessons to Learn

Ranma was running. He was running really fast. This in itself was not something new from various encounters with mobs of fiancées and rivals. What was different from those times was the speed at which Ranma was moving. In fact, the pigtailed demon was running at speeds that he never had before. But that information was not being properly analyzed by his brain. The only thing currently on his mind was that he had to get away, and get away fast.

The young Saotome's brain was quite a fascinating piece of design. His rigorously developed danger sense, honed from surprise attacks by people both day and night, was one of the best of its kind. When implemented, this programming could do remarkable things, including the instantaneous start-up of Ranma's strategy skills, which developed attacks and counterattacks for nearly all contingencies. This danger sense even had the capability of subconsciously instructing Ranma on how to channel pishogue into his legs to make them run faster. Truly an amazing piece of work.

Once the danger had passed, however, certain aspects of a situation that did not relate to the current hazards started to be consciously processed. After a few moments since he stopped from running, Ranma started to internally note that something was out of place. Looking around he saw various people staring strangely at him, pointing fingers, and whispering among themselves. His mind figured that the people were doing these things because there was something off about himself. Maybe he had something on him. Deciding the prudent action would be to pat himself for a quick check-up, he found that he was unable to do so because there was already something occupying on top of his arms. Further analysis was needed.

Since touching was in the immediate vicinity of the object, it was sensible to use that first. Feeling the object in question revealed several unique factors. First off, touches from his left hand indicated that it was warm and smooth. Analysis revealed that this was skin. Enough data was present to provide an initial conclusion, but his brain did not want to register the idea yet. Further verification was needed. Processing information coming from his right hand revealed a slightly different sensation. This part of the object was also warm. However, it seemed to be of a rougher texture, as if it was a wrapping on top of something else. The shape of this part was also different whereas it seemed to be rounder and firmer. Giving the part in question a slight squeeze elicited a small moan that his audio receivers picked up. Enough information was processed to come to an initial conclusion. Visual confirmation was needed.

And so Ranma looked down to see what was in his arms and he found Mara, whom he appeared to be carrying, and it seemed that his right hand went a little too far and was groping her breast. There was only one response his brain decided that it could do in response to the confirmation.

"Ack!!!" Enough being said he practically threw Mara out of his arms and onto her feet.

"ImsorryImsorryImsososorry!" He then closed his eyes and prepared for the pounding that usually followed.

Quite frankly, Mara did not initially know what was going on. One minute they were in Hell's Paradise with the cooking staff in front of them and the next she was flapping through the air like some out-of-control kite. After the abrupt stop, her own brain decided to start working again. Since she was in more control of her senses at the moment then Ranma, her mind processed the data much quicker. This was why she became aware of the hand that was currently on her chest rather swiftly. Before she could pound some sense into the person groping her, a sudden squeeze caused an involuntary moan to escape her lips. The next thing Mara knew was that she was suddenly on her feet and trying to regain her equilibrium.

When her head finally cleared from the sensations, she noted that Ranma was apologizing profusely to her. 'So much for the forwardness theory,' she thought wryly.

Once she had full control of her senses again, Mara also observed how Ranma was tensed with his eyes closed, as if he was prepared to be hit. Mara was initially tempted to do as such. However, from what she had seen of Ranma so far, he did not seem like some pervert (though one never knew), and that this whole thing was some sort of misunderstanding. More curiously for Mara was how this reaction seemed to be heavily embedded within him, meaning that he must had gotten hit almost all the time for mix-ups like this by a person or people he knew. 'Man, what kind of an idiot can jump to the wrong conclusions so much?'

At a beach on Midgard, a certain tomboy sneezes.

Ranma was wondering why he currently was not flying through orbit. This was how it usually went. He got into some sort of compromising situation unintentionally and got punted for it. It was one of those reactions that he had come to get used to, and he allowed it anyway since he usually ended up saying something stupid. Tentatively, Ranma opened his eyes and saw Mara in front of him. She seemed to have a small frown on her face, but no malice appeared to be directed towards him.

"I'm not going to hit you, Ranma. I know it was just…" She cut off as she noticed all of the people standing about. Mara growled at them. "What are all you staring at? Beat it!"

Those who did not recognize her face did notice what her markings represented and hastily decided that they should be somewhere else.

Turning back to Ranma, she gestured with her head in a particular direction. "Let's get going. The library isn't far from here." Without waiting for a reply she started to head off.

Ranma blinked a few times in shock, but had the sense to catch up to Mara. "Um, not that I'm complaining or anything, but how come ya didn't hit me?"

Mara looked at him as if he had grown a second head, but did not stop walking. "Cm'n already. I could tell that you didn't really mean for it to happen from how you reacted. From what little time we have spent together, I can see that you don't really do those kinds of things on purpose."

"Um, does that matter?" Ranma asked nervously.

Mara looked blankly at him for a few moments, and then shook her head in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

Ranma winced and hesitated before saying, "Well, I know it's not normal and all, but it's the only way that gets rid of her, ur, their anger…Besides, I always say something stupid. It seems like I kinda should get punished somehow."

'Her? He must got it bad.' Pinching her nose in frustration, Mara added, already knowing the answer, "And you think that justifies it?"

Still nervous talking about this subject, Ranma shrugged and says, "It's not like it really hurts me anymore. Also," Ranma smiled slightly, though it did not reach his eyes, "its great endurance training."

Again Mara shook her head, this time with disapproval. "I don't think you quite see the whole picture, Ranma. Don't you get what you are doing by letting this go on?"

Hesitantly he answered, "Um, no."

Putting a drawn-out sigh, she elaborated, "You are conditioning 'her', whom I assume is this Akane," she looked at Ranma pointedly, causing him to quickly divert his attention elsewhere, confirming her suspicion, "to use violence to take her frustrations on."

'Isn't that what she always did?' "O-okay."

Mara smacked her forehead in aggravation. "Okay…Okay! Don't you get it, Ranma!" The demoness stopped talking and took a few cleansing breaths. "I'm all for human pain and misery, Ranma, but that is just plain stupidity. Not everyone on Midgard is a martial artist like you that can take hits like that! A punch in anger that can inflict a small bit of damage when you were mortal can severely injure or kill a normal human!"

Ranma felt some anger welling in him at the statement. "Hey, now! Akane wouldn't do that! She wouldn't hit someone with the same strength that she does with me!"

Once again, Mara took a few breaths to calm down. "Maybe not normally, but anger is a powerful emotion, Ranma. As a martial artist, you should know that, unless properly focused, it can strip away our rational thoughts. This allows instincts or powerful 'conditionings,'" she emphasized the word, "to take over."

After a few seconds of processing the information, Ranma's eyes opened in realization. In fact, finally grasping something so obvious just now made him want to beat his head into the nearest wall. He never really thought of it that way before. He had been so used to being around martial artists his entire life that he sometimes forgot about what normal people could handle. Sometimes he hung around non-marital artists at school, but those moments were usually overwhelmed by the seemingly larger amounts of incidents involving world-class fighters.

Mara was right, though. Even though he could do exceedingly more powerful things, punches that can shatter concrete blocks still would be devastating to people without training. He remembered witnessing when Akane demolished through a couple of dozen athletes before school for that moron Kuno's proclamation. Many of them were injured pretty bad, not permanently or anything. In fact, most of the people were fine the next day. However, those types of injuries occurred when Akane had to use her energy on a large group rather than one person. The same amount of power against one person was what usually made him orbiting over Nerima for a few seconds. He doubted there was any non-martial artist in Nerima that could come out unscathed on the landing part, disregarding the going up.

Although he would not admit it out loud (or adamantly deny it if someone said it), Ranma knew that most of the time Akane could be a pretty nice person, especially considering all the times she had helped him out. However, she also had a lot of anger buried in her as well. When it came to competition (especially in martial arts), she would become easily frustrated and need a release for that anger. Most of the time that release would turn up in the form of mallet or a fist connecting with his skull.

The problem that Ranma now understood was that he was conditioning Akane to express her anger physically. So far, the only frustration Akane had needed to vent upon were with regards to martial arts, but later on the same level of aggravation might occur if she went to college or even on a job. Those people would not be able to survive the abuse he endured.

But what could be done about this now. It had been going on for a long time already. Maybe it was too late. Ranma shook his head in disgust. He doubted that this was beyond repair, but it was going to take a hell of a lot of work to resolve. His features were contemplative as he tried to decide where to begin.

Mara interrupted his thoughts. "You can figure out how to fix it later. For now, let's go to the library and pick up the rule book."

Ranma blinked a bit before reluctantly agreeing. He sighed, his shoulders slumping a little. "Okay."

After a few steps, Ranma realized something. "Hey, wait a minute. How did ya know what I was thinking?…In fact, you did that when saying that you weren't gonna hit me? Is that a demonic power too?"

Mara laughed lightly at what he said. "Oh, Ranma. You really have a lot to learn." Seeing him frown slightly at the insult, she decided to humor him and explained better. "No, that is not a demonic power. It's all a simple matter of observation."

"Observation?" dubiously asked a perplexed Ranma.

Mara sighed as she saw no comprehension in Ranma's eyes. "Unless you are somehow purposely misleading what you were doing, certain facial expressions can tell what one is thinking about conversations or about anything in general. Even if a person is misleading their emotions, there are signs to indicate whether or not they are doing so. When making business deals, it's sometimes best to conceal any resemblance of emotions because portraying how you feel one way or another about something can give the one you are making the deal with a clear advantage."

Ranma understood how true that is. It reminded him of Nabiki's high school operations and how she would always put on a cool mask of indifference during business deals.

"You know, Ranma, you probably would be pretty good at reading people if you wanted," Mara casually added to the conversation. 'Hook.'

"How come?" asked Ranma curiously.

"As a martial artist, you have to observe everything about an opponent correct, meaning where every part of their body is, where their focus is, everything right." 'Line.'

Seeing Ranma nod, she continued, "Well, why can't those same skills be used in observation outside of fighting. I mean it would be more difficult to read opponents in a hard-pressed battle than in casual conversation."

Ranma blinked a few times and smiled in understanding.

'And sinker. Gotcha, Ranma,' triumphantly thought Mara.

"I guess I could give a try sometime." Images of a chibi-Ranma in a professor's outfit outsmarting a crying chibi-Nabiki ran through his mind, which made Ranma chuckle darkly in delight.

Mara sweatdropped, but nodded in affirmation. "Now how about we get to our last stop."

Temporarily banishing his fantasy from mind, Ranma replied, "Sure." He then tentatively added, "And Mara…"

Mara looked at Ranma curiously.

"Thanks," said Ranma with a smile, to which Mara could not help smirk in return.

"No problem."

A few minutes later the pair arrived at Nifelheim's library. As usual, the architecture was similar to everything else, except for a few changes here and there. The size of the building was quite larger than Hell's Paradise, but nowhere near the same size of the main office. For this particular building, there was a flower garden with an assortment of shrubbery in the front of it where various people were sitting along and reading. The building itself also had several large balconies where he saw others doing the same.

After they walk through the garden on up the steps, he noted the lack of a front door. "Man, everyone is not into security around here are they."

Mara chuckled lightly. "No, there really isn't any need If someone does break the rules around here, it's virtually impossible to get away with. We have various spells and artifacts to determine whether or not a person commits a crime or not, and…let's just say that the punishments can be most…unpleasant."

Ranma shivered slightly as he imagined what the penalties for breaking the rules were.

"Anyway, in this library you can basically find almost any information that you are looking for, ranging from world histories to textbooks to curses." Mara smirked a little before continuing, "Perhaps even martial arts techniques."

Ranma's ears perked up at this.

As they passed through the front entrance, Ranma saw a similar aspect as compared to Hell's Paradise, which was that the interior was a lot bigger than what it appeared on the outside. "Okay, this place did not look this big on the outside. How do they do that?"

Mara took a moment to reflect on how to answer the question. "Hmm, basically they do it by folding space. It has something to do with dimensional subspace technology of some sort. I couldn't really explain the details since I'm no scientist." Mara shrugged indifferently.

Disregardless of how they were able to fit this much space into the smaller version he had seen outside, one thing was for sure, and that was they were able to fit a hell of a lot of books into it. The sheer amount of books present was staggering. Connecting to the marble-tiled lobby of the library to his left, right, and in front of him were hallways of rows upon rows of books. Glancing upwards, he vaguely saw a sunroof, though he had to squint to make it out. It also seemed as if there were many, many floors to the library.

Taking his eyes from the ceiling, he studied various details of the place. In the center of the lobby there appeared to be a desk where someone was busy reading a book. He assumed that was the librarian. There was also one of those teleportation arches next to the desk. In between the stacks of books to the left, right, and in front of him past the librarian's desk were spacious tables where various people were sitting and reading. Numerous plants also seemed to give the place decoration.

Ranma's inspection was interrupted as Mara started to walk over to the prominent desk on the lobby. Shrugging, Ranma followed her. As the two got closer to the figure sitting and reading, Ranma saw his features better. The man looked perfectly human except for the slightly pointed ears on his profile. He had brown hair and was also wearing a pair of reading glasses. This confused Ranma somewhat since he thought that demons or other people of Nifelheim had great eyesight. The librarian was also quietly chuckling to himself when reading the book in his hands.

After the two make it to the desk and wait a few moments, Mara got a bit impatient and politely coughed to get his attention.

Blinking a few times, the librarian noticed Ranma and Mara in front of him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was a little preoccupied with my favorite book. When things become slow, I sometimes like reading it to give me a good laugh." The librarian took off his glasses and closed the book. Ranma noticed the title on the front cover in the strange language that he somehow now understood, saying "Inferno" by Dante. Had Ranma known the contents of the book, he would have massively sweatdropped. However, he did not have a clue and so ignored it.

"Anyway, reservation for Ranma Saotome," stated Mara, pointing her thumb to the man in question.

The librarian brought up his holo-computer and quickly typed the name into it. "Ah, yes, 'Rules & Regulations of Nifelheim'…The full version too…my, my, my, it has been sometime since that one had to be used."

As the librarian was typing, Ranma noticed that he was seeing perfectly fine without his glasses. "Um, how come you don't have your glasses on?"

The librarian took his eyes off of the computer and glanced at him with a small smile. "Oh, I don't really need them, young man. I only wear them because they make me fit into my role better. Don't you think, so?"

Ranma sweatdropped at his comment. "Uh, right," he drawled out.

Turning back to the computer, the librarian typed a few more keystrokes, and said, "Done."

Out of nowhere appeared a book on the desk…as tall as the papers he signed before. Ranma's left eye twitched a bit in response. "You want me to carry this thing around to read…Come on already! Someone is bound to notice it and then people will ask all sorts of questions about it." Mara raised an eyebrow at his foresight.

The librarian waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing to worry about…Now, grab onto the book."

Ranma looked at him skeptically, but complied.

"Now, simply will the book away."

"Will it away," deadpanned Ranma.

A light slap on the back of his head gets Ranma's attention. "Just do it, Ranma," lightly chided Mara.

Ranma sighed, but did as he was told. 'Okay, book, go away. Go away.' Suddenly, before his astonished eyes, the book simply disappeared. Waving his hand in space where the book was, there was nothing but air. The only thing that came out of his mouth was, "Uhhh..."

The librarian explained what had happened. "Basically, every book in the library has a spell on them that can send it, upon the user's thought, into and out of a subspace pocket to which only the current borrower has access."

Letting the information sink in, Ranma sighed and asked, "Okay. I guess, but what about when I have the book out and am reading it. Somebody might end up seeing what it's all about."

Before the librarian could respond, Mara spoke. "I'm sure you noticed around Nifelheim writing in strange symbols that you have never seen before, but could somehow understand. Right, Ranma?"

The pigtailed demon nodded in response.

"That is demonic language. Only those of Nifelheim have the innate ability to understand that language." 'Among other things, but I'll let him find that out on his own. It will be much more fun that way,' she added to herself. Out loud, she continued, "So, you don't have to worry about anybody else understanding it. If they do ask questions, well, just make something up."

'Man, this is just one surprise after another isn't it.' "I guess," he said uncertainly. Turning to the librarian, Ranma stated, "Anyway, thanks. We'll get going now."

The man in question waved a little in return. "Anytime. Remember, if you need to find any book here, you can ask me and I'll help you."

Ranma nodded and replied, "Thanks." Speaking to Mara, "That's it, right?"

"Sure is." Mara's expression turned mischievous. "Let's go home."

Ranma blinked and responded. "What do you mean…" His sentence was cut off as Mara grabbed his arm and teleported the two out of Nifelheim.

Meanwhile the librarian chuckled at their antics and picked up the book he was previously reading. Soon after, quiet laughter was heard from him once again.

Back at the Tendo Dojo…

The sun was setting in the horizon of the Nerima district and in the distance gray clouds were approaching, signifying a small storm would soon come down on those below. The quiet of the evening was only disrupted as Ranma and Mara suddenly popped into existence outside of the dojo in the backyard. The former blinked a few times, and then turned towards Mara. "What do you mean 'Let's go home?' You make it sound like your going to live here."

Mara obtained an overly innocent expression. "Of course I am. I do need to be around my fiancé." Her face turned sultry and her eyes bored into him. "I have to be by him incase he requires anything." She began to trace her finger along his chest. "In case he has any urges." The last word was practically purred out.

Ranma gulped audibly and stuttered out while slowly backing up, "I…I, uh, think that's, um, okay, I mean, that's, um nice of you to offer, but…" He continued to back up while Mara continued to move forward with the same hungry gaze…that is until he tripped over one of the rocks surrounding the koi pond. This, of course, led to a typical scene at the Tendo Dojo, Ranma getting wet by landing in the koi pond.

Mara laughed quite freely. "Oh, Ranma! You are just sometimes too ea…" Mara's comment died off as she noticed the figure that stood up. In fact, her eyes widened and her mouth gaped in pure shock.

Sputtering out water from her mouth, Ranma glared at Mara. "Wha…" was all Ranma got out before she almost fell over in surprise. Her voice sounded different. "Wha-what's wrong with my voice!?!" she yelled out while clutching her throat. Rather than the high-pitched, cutesy voice she often associated with her female form, it was smoother, richer,…a-and husky! She shivered slightly, recalling how it reminded her of Hinako's adult voice. Feeling nervous about the development, Ranma tentatively looked at Mara for an answer, but saw only gaping on the blond demoness' part. Ranma blinked as she made a realization. She was still looking at Mara at eye level and said demoness was about as tall as his male form. The conclusion she reached was that as a girl, she should be looking up at her, not at eye level. (1)

Almost mechanically, Ranma turned around in the koi pond and stared at her reflection in the water. Numbly, she nodded to herself at what she saw…and then let loose a hysterical scream. "Ahhhhhhhh!" Without a second thought she jumped out of the koi pond, and dashed into the house. A moment later, another scream, even louder than before, was heard.

This seemed to knock Mara out of her trance, though she was still dazed by the experience. Unlike her companion, she slowly walked around the pond and into the house. She did not have to go far to see Ranma staring numbly at a mirror, the same one where he first noticed his changes when becoming a demon. Ironically, Mara walked beside Ranma at the same place before as well. Both of them were staring with full attention at the mirror.

Since both of them were much calmer, relatively speaking, than before, they noticed the drastic changes to Ranma-chan. Whereas the former version was short and petite, the altered form was the same height as his male one. Her bust was larger, but on her taller form, seemed more appropriate. In addition, looking at her face, there was no baby fat present, and from tracing the curves on her body, she assumed that there was none on the rest of it. The most striking feature that added to her exotic looks was the change in hair color. Before it was a pure, vibrant, and fiery red. It still was that way…except for the fact that intermingled with the red hair was small streak patches of black. The modifications in hair color seemed to be totally opposite of those in his male form. The only things that did not seem to be altered were the red-blue color of her eyes, the demon marks, and, when absently opening her mouth, the fangs.

Mara shook her head to get out of the stupor seeing Ranma-chan put her in. She had seen a previous picture of Ranma-chan before ascension, being that it might be the form the client would be in when given the wish. That was why the changes were shocking to her...for the most part. Curiously, a photo of this female Ranma was not present when they saw Hild typing on her computer. Mara reasoned that it was probably because Nifelheim's system could not register the form until it had been used. It was most likely in there now.

When comparing herself with the new version of Ranma-chan, Mara could not hold back a bit of jealousy and a little intrigue. Where before would have a cute, little redhead girl was a fully-developed, voluptuous woman. Hell, she could give Hild a run in the looks department! However, the prominent thought going through Mara's head was 'This is an…interesting development.'

Still in a sort of daze, Ranma broke her thought by asking, "How did this happen?"

Sighing, Mara briefly rubbed her forehead as if to get rid of a headache. "Remember, the Jusenkyo magic has been fused to you. That means it is an integral part of your being now. Therefore, your female form matured to represent your actual age. Apparently, the fusion also caused some of your natural hair color to seep through. Now that I think of it, the fusion would also explain why some of your male hair color is red as well."

After looking into the mirror a little more, Ranma sighed and turned back to Mara. "Oh well."

Mara facefaulted at the response, her hands in warding gestures. She quickly got up. "What do me 'okay'!?! Is that all you can say!?!"

Ranma deadpanned, "Well compared to just this morning I became a demon, went to Nifelheim, met the high demon lord, and got practically pounced on by succubae, I think my system has had enough surprises for the day."

Mara looked blankly at her, then lightly chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it has been a pretty busy day, hasn't it?"

Ranma nodded tiredly. Then she remembered the conversation that they started before the next surprise in her life. "Um, before…about you living here. How do you plan on working that out?"

Mara waved her hand dismissively. "Bah, I'll just throw a nice chunk of money in their faces and I'll get to live here as long as I want. No problem."

Blinking a few times, Ranma sighed as he realized the truth to that statement.

"Now, where would I be staying here?" She purred out, "Your room I hope."

Ranma face reddened as she became nervous once again. "H-hey now. I-I'm a girl right now."

Mara raised an eyebrow. "So you are."

Ranma's blush only intensified. Trying to divert the conversation away, she stuttered, "Um, I-I think you can stay in Happosai's room. He hasn't been around lately being in Juuban and all." A moment's thought later and she added, "But the room needs to cleaned of all the panties and bras first."

With a small sweatdrop, Mara drawled out, "Right."

Sighing a little in relief, Ranma stated, "I might as well show it to ya." He proceeded in walking towards the lecher's room, followed by Mara. As they made it to door, Ranma paused for a moment, looked towards Mara, and then slid the entrance open.

Another sweatdrop from Mara resulted on inspecting the interior. Panties and bras littered the room wall-to-wall. It seemed that the pervert liked to sleep on a mattress of female undergarments as well.

Trying to think of the appropriate words to express her feelings, she could only comment slowly, "Okay."

"Let me get some hot water first, and I'll help ya clean it up then." Ranma made his way towards the kitchen, while Mara stood there looking at the room with some disbelief.

Shaking her head at the conditions, Mara then smirked on thinking of the clean-up part. 'Hehehe. This outta show him how useful magic can be for even the most simple of things.' With a mere wave of her hand, all of the female undergarments disappeared in a flash. In addition, the room seemed to be sparkling clean. With yet another gesture, a comfortable bed appeared where Happosai's futon used to be. 'Hmm, better not overdo it. They might become suspicious.' Looking at the clean walls and floor as well as the cozy bed, Mara exclaimed, "Ah, much better!"

A now male Ranma returned to Happosai's room. "Okay, we might as well get star..ted." He looked wide-eyed at the miraculous transformation of the room, though 'miraculous' might not be the suitable word. The pigtailed martial artist looked curiously at Mara, who smirked and polished her fist on her chest in a quite smug fashion. "Magic?"

Mara's smirk became more pronounced. "Magic," she affirmed.

Ranma simply said, "Cool."

In a teasing tone, Mara asked, "So, getting used to the unexpected are we?"

Ranma huffed. "Like I said,…" He was cutoff by the demoness.

Waving her hand to dismiss the comment she knew was coming, "Yeah. Yeah. This day has just been full of surprises already."

"Um, yeah," lamely stated Ranma. Looking through the bedroom's window, he noted that the sun had completely set and a light darkness had spread across the sky. "I think I'll go to bed early tonight." He was about to leave when Mara spoke to him.

"Are you sure that you don't want some…company tonight?" she asked suggestively. Mara walked towards her bed and then provocatively sat on the bed.

Sweating bullets, Ranma backed out of the room. "T-that's okay. I'll be fine on my own. Um, good night." Not waiting for a response, he sprinted out of the room.

Mara chuckled at his departure. "Oh, Ranma. Ranma. Ranma. It's just so fun teasing you." Stretching her arms to get the kinks out, the demoness fully spread out herself across the mattress. After a few moment of merely resting on the bed, she recalled the day's activities. All-in-all it had been a rather amusing one.. She could not remember off the top of her head when she had this much fun that did not involve the Norns somehow. Hell, she was even flirting with a guy! She hadn't done that since…Mara winced. 'Oh, great, Mara! You had to think about the past, didn't you! The past is for…,' A brief look of anger crossed Mara's face, '…Urd, not me!' Sighing, she realized that now she had spoiled her own good mood. She needed to do something to relax. 'Maybe a good soak in a furo will help.'

Twenty minutes later, in Ranma's room…

The pigtailed demon, who did not bother in undressing for the night, was currently resting on his futon, though he could not seem to fall asleep yet. The day's activities continued to repeat themselves over and over within his mind. It had been, in his estimation, the most event-filled one to date. Even if it did not possess something like the life-and-death struggle against Saffron, nonetheless, the sheer number of life-altering changes that did happen was staggering.

First off, he was a demon now. If someone the day before claimed that this going to happen to him, he would have laughed in his or her face. But it occurred. Not only that, but his Jusenkyo curse had been altered as well, it now being fused with him. That in itself was not so bad. He was already getting used to the idea that he would have it for the rest of his life. Besides, according to Hild, he will be able to control the change eventually. No, the bad part was how beautiful his female form had become. The appearance itself was not the problem. If Ranma had to change into a girl, he at least wanted to turn into a good-looking one. No, the problem was all the attention that it will grab. Ranma grimaced, thinking about the perverted boys at school and how they try to spray him with cold water during showers. His frown darkened further, recalling the various stares that he got when waitressing at the Nekohanten.

Ranma shook his head to banish that trail of thought. That would go on for a long time if it continued. Sighing, Ranma thought now of the last major change on his mind, another fiancée. Even if it was under the guise of getting the chance for training, the other fiancées will not know that. He will probably end up getting beaten for it anyway.

His latest fiancée puzzled him to no end. He did not really know what to think about her. At times, she could be as flirtatious as Shampoo was, even more so if she wanted to. At others, she could be quite solemn and provide insights he more expected out of the Old Ghoul. The way she dressed practically screams 'bad girl,' but she took her job seriously when need be, even if it was in her own playful way. She was just one set of contradictions upon the other.

Once again, Ranma shook his head. Thinking like this was going to give him a headache. He also realized that he was not going to be getting to sleep anytime soon. 'Might as well take a bath."

Meanwhile in the furo…

'This is what I needed.' The blond demoness had a tranquil smile on her face as the heat of the water seemed to melt away her tensions.

It really was not too difficult to find the changing room, which was connected to the room with the furo, separated only by a door. When she got to the changing room, one quick spell and all of her clothing disappeared. Having visited the country often enough through the centuries, Mara was aware of Japanese customs, including those for bathing. After a quick scrubbing and splash of cold water, she used another spell on the furo's water to heat it up. And so for the past quarter-hour she had been unwinding in the bath, letting the soothing water to help relax herself.

'But all good things must come to an end.' Mara sighed and stood up to get out of the furo, only to hear the sliding door open. Startled, she turned her head to see…

Two minutes earlier…

Ranma stepped into the changing room and proceeded to undress. Taking a towel from the rack he threw it over his shoulder. Silently cursing, he remembered that the furo would not be warm. He was too used to Kasumi having the furo ready for everyone. Sighing, he commented to himself, "Might as well start it up anyway while I'm here." Opening the door, Ranma was greeted to sight of…

A nude Mara turned her head and was uncharacteristically dumbfounded at seeing a similarly dressed Ranma standing at the doorway. Although Mara was not the most conservative of women, she still had no qualms about kicking the crap out of a man who tried to peak in on her. However, standing before her was a man who she knew, even in her stunned state, not a pervert. Besides, she certainly was getting an eyeful herself. A small portion of her senses told her that he was as thoroughly shocked as she is. The rest of her was too absorbed in the view. As if on their own accord, her eyes traveled across his well-toned chest and washboard abs, dimly noting a couple of small, scratch-like scars running along them. They did not do anything to depreciate the looks, however. There was seemingly no fat on his torso, resultant from a life of constant martial arts devotion. Gazing even lower, Mara's eyes widened significantly and she suddenly had to lick her dry lips.

Ranma was in no better shape than the demoness. To the martial artist, it was as if history was repeating itself, except for their relative positions in the furo room. Of course, the larger amount of his brain was still too stunned to do anything. The conditioned response for the young Saotome upon walking into a naked woman was to get hit, and so his body was waiting for said reaction. In the meantime, his own eyes could not help but gaze upon the beauty in front of him. The water dripping from her naked skin under the room's light gave Mara an angelic appearance. His eyes involuntarily traversed down her naked chest, the sight of which made him gulp audibly, down her smooth, flat stomach, and even lower to her…

"Ack!!!" The sight obviously was enough to shock him out of his stupor. No sooner than the exclamation had left his mouth, he turned around and exited the room, slamming the door behind him.

The shout was apparently enough to break Mara out of her own trance. Blinking a few times to regain her senses, the demoness could only manage out a most un-Mara-like statement. "O-oh my."

In the changing room, Ranma's heart was beating as if he had a full workout, but there were no evident signs of such exertion. He could only stare unblinking for the next few moments as his mind processed what he had just seen. His senses, still alert from the experience, noted that the sliding door was opening. In a flash, Ranma was in his clothes thanks to Anything Goes Dressing, developed specifically for such instances (and also to change into girl disguises on the fly).

A composed Mara, dressed in a black bathrobe, stepped out into the changing room, though if one looked closely, it could be seen that she was walking more stiffly than usual. An awkward silence fell on the two, each one wondering what to say. Finally, Ranma broke the quiet. "Um, sorry about that," he uttered with a nervous bow, "I, uh, didn't see any clothes here, and, uh,…"

Ranma was cut off by a dismissive wave by Mara. "Don't worry about it. It is sort of my fault by not leaving any clues that I was in there…Besides, it's not like I didn't get a show myself." She smirked a little after the statement, though there is an anxious edge to it.

Blinking a few times, Ranma lamely stated, "Oh…"

"So, I guess you can use the furo if you want. I heated the water with magic and it should be good for another half-hour."

"Um, I think I'll just go to bed now. I took a bath this morning anyway."

Another uncomfortable silence descended on the two.

"So…"

"So…"

Mara cleared her throat a bit before stating, "Well, um, goodnight, Ranma."

Ranma fidgeted some before talking. "Uh, yeah, goodnight, Mara."

After several tense moments, the pair moved in unison, exited the changing room, and slowly proceeded towards their respective rooms.

Several minutes later…

Ranma was once again lying on his futon, staring at the ceiling, and considering the latest scenario. He was trying to avoid thinking about what he actually saw by pondering what was said later. He remembered some of Mara's last words. 'Besides, it's not like I didn't get a show myself.'

He recalled when first appearing at the Tendo Dojo, a girl asked him (who was a her at the time) for friendship, but later blatantly crushed such desire upon discovering that he was really a boy with a curse. She subsequently called him a pervert and said that it was different when a girl sees a guy naked than vice versa. Even Ranma could tell how nonsensical that statement was back then.

Thinking of a lost invitation for friendship led to a new trail of thought, sadly reminding Ranma of how little of that he has had here in Nerima. He did have acquaintances like Hiroshi and Daisuke, but they only really hung out around him for some recognition in school. Ryoga, Mousse, and Kuno were all simply rivals, and occasional allies, who continuously blamed him for stealing their loves. The fiancées were all too busy fighting over him or with each other for that to happen. Even among his fiancées, his childhood friend Ukyo seemed to talk with him as if it will score her points on the fiancée poll.

Mara seemed to be different from everyone else, though, and that was not talking about being a demoness. She was not really one quick to judge him, even in the most compromising of circumstances. He had gotten her a little angry a couple of times in the day, but she would later forget about them as if they were nothing. Mara had also been helping him throughout the day and will be doing so with the beginning of his magic training. Although Ranma was not the greatest expert on the subject, he knew that these are typical characteristics of friendship.

'Maybe I'll have a true friend around here after all.'

And so Ranma closed his eyes and eventually fell into a sleep filled with the dreams that regularly plagued him.

Meanwhile in Mara's room…

The demoness, clad in a simple black nightgown, was lying on her own bed in a similar fashion as to what Ranma was doing a few moment's ago. However, unlike the pigtailed demon, she was not successfully diverting her attention from the furo development. 'Dammit! How is this guy doing this to me! Sure, I've flirted with him a couple of times, but it was only in good fun. He's a kid compared to me and incredibly naïve about a lot of things!'

Calming down a bit, she sighed, recalling his other attributes. There just seemed to be some kind of natural charm that drew you in to him. It was both exciting and disturbing at the same time, which consequently confused her to no end. She was tempted to just say the hell with it all and request for a transfer away from this assignment, but immediately threw away that idea since Hild would not be happy at all with it. Besides, she was not a quitter. If she were, she would have given up on tormenting the Norns a while ago. 'Hmm. Sort of like Ranma. He is never known as a quitter too.'

Mara laughed lightly thinking about how the two of them had something in common. This line of thinking distracted her from her original musings and was, therefore, much more welcome, considering it did not evoke confusion. When comparing herself with him, she saw how different they really were, but somehow were able to get along pretty well together during the day. It was really surprising how much fun, at least in her opinion, she had. Granted, there were times when Ranma's naivety was simply annoying, but overall, it was pretty enjoyable. Normally, she got her kicks out of bringing trouble upon the Norns, Keiichi, or anyone who normally hangs out with them. Somehow, simpler activities with Ranma turned out just as pleasant. 'Maybe this assignment won't be so bad.'

Her musings were cut short when she saw a bright flash resulting from the crash of lightning outside. Afterwards, the roll of thunder was heard. Rain was pouring down and Mara observed water streaming down the window panes. Mara frowned looking outside, though her eyes now seemed not focused on the storm. She suddenly turned to her side away from the window. 'Sometimes I really hate storms.'

Eventually, Mara too fell asleep, and dreamed of memories long ago.

End Chapter 3.

Author's Notes:

(1) Altering of the Jusenkyo curse in this matter was, in part, inspired by MadamHydra's "Tiger Claw."

One thing I forgot to mention in Mara's description that I thought was noteworthy are the fangs that she has. And, as mentioned, Ranma now has them as well. The prologue has been changed appropriately for this. Also, some minor corrections have been made to previous parts, nothing major, except Hild's last comment to herself after Ranma leaves.

Comments and criticism are appreciated.

-ranmafan1


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ranma ½, Ah! My Goddess, or any other trademarked/copyrighted product in this fanfiction. They were created by people a lot more imaginative than me. I am also not making any money off of this. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

Note: This story takes place after the Jusendo incident. Ranma is about to enter his junior year of high school. This story starts towards the end of the summer break.

Pursuing a New Path

by ranmafan1

Chapter 4: Reliving the Past and Training for the Future

Within the hazy confines of the dreams, visions of a past long ago assaulted a mind that wanted such memories forgotten.

A young girl sat by a small pond, throwing rocks into it and watching the ripples resulting from the action. All around her children were laughing and playing. Some girls were standing nearby and whispering amongst themselves while pointing at the child, though they did not know she could hear them clearly. "Why does she dress like that?" "Yeah, do you think that she wants everyone to think she is a boy?" 

"That isn't the only thing weird about her. Well, I heard that she has some weird bug that reacts to disco music."

"Yeah, I heard that too! She totally can't stop dancing when she hears it! It supposed to be really freaky! I mean, I heard of some people having it in their programming to fall asleep with certain music, but that disco thing would be just too weird." (1)

"Maybe we should try that sometime just to see it. That would be funny!"

Giggles were heard from the gossiping group, while the child continued to look at the pond while clenching a stone within her small fist.

"Hi! What's your name?"

The girl blinked a few times, realizing that someone was talking to her. Tentatively turning her head, she came face-to-face with another girl about her age with platinum white hair and dark-tanned skin. The sitting girl only managed to speak, "Huh…"

"My name's Urd! Want to go and play?"

Nervously, the young girl searched for the right words to say, but could not find any. "Umm…"

"Come on. It'll be fun!" Not giving her the opportunity to talk, Urd grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her off towards the playground.

Within the dreamscape time quickly passed from young childhood into the late teenage years (at least according to appearance).

Two young women were laughing amicably while drinking at a bar. To all observers, the two were clearly old-time friends from the easy-going manner in which they interacted. "I can't believe she really did that!" 

"Yep. Naked as the day she was born after giving a strip show to a room full of nymphs."

"I guess that ought to show why ya shouldn't drink one of Aphrodite's cocktails…Couldn't happen to a better goddess if I do say so."

"Oh….My, my, my, dear Mara, are you still thinking about how she and those others treated you all those years ago."

Mara snorted. "Damn straight! Those stuck-up brats always had it out for me. You know that, Urd." The demoness took another swig from the bottle in front of her. "Enough with taking about this depressive shit. Tonight's a night for celebration! Tomorrow both you and me are getting our full licenses!"

"Here! Here!" Urd raised her own bottle towards her mouth and took a swig.

The two remained in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's company. Tentatively, Mara asked Urd a question. "Urd?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we still going to get to do these kinds of things after getting our full licenses? I mean…demon and god friendships don't usually last once they get their assignments."

Urd rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "Mara, Mara, Mara. You worry too much. We have hung out together for a long time already and I doubt something as simple as being on different sides will change anything." A heartfelt smile appeared on Urd's face. "You were right before. Tonight's a night to celebrate and not being depressed." The smile turned mischievous. "So, are you interested in anyone lately?"

"Urd!" The demoness yelled in mock anger, while trying to conceal a small blush. "You know I'm not into looking for relationships like you!"

"Oh, come on, Mara! There has got to be someone that you like!"

"Well…," responded Mara uncertainly. "There is this one person…"

"Details, girl, details!"

"Um, well, it's…"

Once more time flowed through the mind at an accelerated rate until it stopped on one fateful day.

The same two individuals that were once laughing and chattering in friendship now stood facing each other with none of the closeness that existed before. The dark skies and pouring rain reflected the atmosphere between the two. One stood looking torn with sadness and regret, while the other face was etched with anger and hate. 

"How could you do this to me!?! I trusted you!!!"

"Mara…I…," whispered Urd while trying to place a hand on the other's shoulder.

However, the hand was slapped away before it could it even make contact. "Bitch, bastard!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

Silence once again claimed all.

Mara snapped awake with a gasp, air coming into her lungs at an accelerated rate. For a few moments, her eyes remained unfocused, seeing the images flashing briefly before they were once again banished.

'Damn. Haven't had those dreams for a long time.' Shaking her head to clear it, Mara got out of the bed and stretched the kinks out of her body from the night. Looking outside, the demoness noted how the sun was shining brightly. Apparently, there was going to be nice weather as compared to last night. With a casual snap of her fingers, Mara's nightgown transformed into a formfitting black shirt and jeans combination. On the shirt's front was written in red "Bad Girl" and on her hands were black fingerless gloves.

'Time for some food.' Just as she was about to step downstairs and conjure up some food (no way was she going to cook!), Mara felt a fairly large channeling of energy outside. Then she heard someone scream, "Damn you, Oyaji!!!" which was followed by a huge explosion. Peering outside, she noted a large cloud of smoke escaping from the practically demolished dojo. Sighing, the demoness realized immediately what must have happened. 'I guess someone is impatient.' Mara went to find some alcohol since she knew Ranma was going to need it.

Earlier…

Within the dreamscape of another mind, a similar play of memories filtered through.

A young boy tearfully waved goodbye to a kimono-clad woman. Standing next to him was a heavy-set man who looked disapprovingly at the child's emotional display.

"Come on, boy. It's time to go."

Wiping at the tears in his eyes, the boy meekly replied, "Okay, Papa."

"Ranma my boy, I will make you into a great martial artist, the best of your generation. The road will be long and hard, but I want you to always remember, 'The life of a martial artist is fraught with peril.'"

A resolute nod was the response from the boy, followed by another, "Okay, Papa."

The memories quickly shifted onto a different memory.

The same boy from before was sitting on top of an okonomiyaki cart as his father pulled it at a face pace. He waved good-bye to another child who appeared to be trying to catch-up to them. The boy carefully concealed the sadness he was feeling about leaving his friend since his father did not like for him to show emotions like that. His father always yelled and said to stop acting like a girl, though that always confused him. The boy thought that the only good thing out of this departure was that they seemed to have gotten the cart as a going-away present. 

A new set of dreams emerged from the dark recesses of his mind.

"Don't worry, boy! We'll get rid of this stupid fear of cats yet!"

The child tried to run and flee away from the pit, the pit where there was nothing but pain, but he was too hurt, tired, and hungry that he did not have the strength to resist. So, inevitably, the father once more threw his son in the pit.

Once landing on the ground, he immediately curled within a ball to instinctively protect his face and eyes from the ravenous beasts that pounced on him. How many times he had been thrown into the pit, the boy lost count, but every time it happened, his mind felt like it was getting closer and closer to tearing apart. This instance the boy found within his psyche a refuge to hide away from the fear and pain. All he had to do was reach out for it and release himself to it…

Another scene.

'Stupid Ryoga. Making me wait this goddamn long for a stupid match. He set this damn thing up in this lot and still gets lost. He'd better get here soon. The old man's getting impatient.'

Some time later.

The cool feeling of water surrounding him froze Ranma to the core. Before he got hit, the guide said that the spring his father fell into turned him into a panda. Now he fell into a spring, what was he going to transform into? But wait, he still had arms? Maybe he got out of it okay. 

After rising out of the surface of the pool and taking in several deep gulfs of air, he immediately knew something was wrong. His whole body's weight felt off. "Wh-a..?" Before he could finish a sentence, he stopped when hearing the different tone in his voice. It sounded a lot higher pitch than it should have been. Fearing for the worst, he looked down his front shirt and noticed two bulges. Quickly tearing open the front of the gi, he noticed what they were. He was a she. The insults of the past came roaring back to him with a vengeance, repeating themselves over and over again within his mind. A small part of himself realized how this was his father's fault. He embraced the hatred this spawned since it felt better than the depression he was about to fall into.

"Oyaji!?!"

Later.

A young girl with blue-black hair stood in front him (who was a her at the time), showing a bright smile and kind eyes. "Hi! My name's Akane. Do you want to be friends?"

Finally.

Surrounded in ice, Ranma was in mid-air with the Gekkaja firmly in his grasp. This was his only shot left. He knew time was running out for Akane since her eyes were going to soon close. A direct Hiryu Shoten Ha might actually work against Saffron if he could channel the tornado to remove the massive amount of heat surrounding the Phoenix King, which would subsequently freeze him. It was his only hope. Akane needed water from the Dragon tap to live and he would not let her die!!!

Ranma woke up with a gasp as the shock of memories overwhelmed him. His own eyes briefly recalled the dreams of the past night, which caused him to groan tiredly. It was those damn ones again. 'This is getting real old.' The way these memories kept haunting him at nights, he could not help but thinking his mind was trying to tell him something. 'Oh, well. Time to get up I guess.'

One good thing about not going with the others on vacation was how he did not get splashed awake with a bucket full of water or got thrown out a window. Right now he needed to brush his teeth and have a quick soak in the furo to wake-up.

After entering the bathroom, Ranma grabbed his toothbrush and put some toothpaste on it. Looking into the mirror, he blinked repeatedly upon noticing his appearance. Red stripes of hair intermingled with the raven black. Blue eyes with tinges of red. Two slashes on his forehead with a triangle under each eye. Opening his mouth he noticed the fangs. This all caused Ranma to sigh wearily while recalling all of the events that transpired the day before.

"Great. Just great. I guess it's too much to ask for yesterday to be a dream." Another sigh escaped his lips. "Ah the hell with it all." The newly-turned demon decided just to continue getting ready in the morning. He needed to find out what his body can do with these new changes.

An hour later…

Ranma was standing in the middle of the dojo in deep concentration. He was examining the strange life energy flowing through him now. When he examined his inner stores of energy, he nearly facefaulted at the amount of raw power within him. It was definitely a lot higher than Saffron's when they battled. He figured that he missed this detail due to being around Mara all the time. Her aura still dwarfed his own by many factors, Ranma grudgingly admitted to himself. He also probably did not notice because he was not really bothering to pay attention to his inner power levels yesterday due to the various events that occurred.

Taking note of his energy level also made him scowl. He did not really like getting free energy boosts. All of his previous skill and power before yesterday had been due to his own hard work. To all of the sudden becoming stronger than the Saffron he faced because of basically a mistake seemed to cheapen his previous efforts.

Upon reflection, that was one thing that annoyed him about his rivals and fiancées. They were all willing to take the short cuts for anything until they found out about the consequences. The cost for the super soba Akane ate where those c-cat whiskers. The "Mark of the God" that made Ryoga almost seemingly invincible was an incredibly stupid-looking tattoo of a smiling face.

A stray thought entered Ranma's mind, one that occasionally came up from time to time. 'I wonder if I would have been any different than them if things worked out differently. What if I accidentally ate the soba, if I received the mark, or if the battle dogi chose me?' Now it seemed like he would find out since it happened to him and this power-up made all of theirs seem insignificant.

Of course, now that he sullenly thought about it, his own price was his very humanity, and, unlike the other instances, this was something that could not be reversed or given up.

Ranma sighed again and shook his head to get rid of the depressing thoughts. He would start thinking like pig-boy if he kept that up. It was time to see what he could do with this energy. 'Hmm, I think Hild said it was called pishogue.' He had already gotten a glimpse of his new capabilities when he unconsciously channeled the energy to get away from "Hell's Paradise" and those succubae. Shivering slightly, Ranma remembered the hungry gazes those chefs gave him. Ranma was glad he would not be seeing them any time soon.

In Nifelheim, a certain quintet sneezed, momentarily stopping their daydreams of a pigtailed demon.

To start off with, Ranma began with basic punch and kick katas. Gradually, he worked up the speed and strength of them until he became a blur throughout the dojo. Although he expected this new energy level to increase the power of his movements a lot, he was still quite surprised by how drastically it changed. When he started to apply the Amaguriken principles to his upper and lower body, he was moving faster than before this whole fiasco started with seemingly little effort.

After about two hours of accelerating practice, Ranma finally stopped to take a breather. Beads of sweat were dripping down him from the workout. He had long ago taken off his shirt to cool down better in the summer heat. His mind was currently wrapping around what just happened. 'This is incredible. I've never had this speed before. I'm probably faster than the old ghoul and the perv now.' Those thoughts made him giddy in thinking that he would finally be able to beat them in a straight-out fight. Then he remembered that he would still only be able to win against them using superior speed as well as power and not on skill. This redropped his mood, but one bright point still was how Happosai would not be able to push him around as easily as before. Of course, who knew what other kinds of surprises he had in his arsenal?

Now that he saw how his Amaguriken speed was affected, it was time to check some of his other special techniques. A full Hiryu Shoten Ha was out of the question in the dojo since it would blow the place apart. However, a small Moko Takabisha should be okay. 'Okay. Now all I gotta do if find my center and project my confidence outward.'

Taking a few deep breaths, Ranma cupped his hands in front of himself. After focusing on his center, his battle aura surround him. He was somewhat surprised and a little nervous upon noticing the different color of it. Where before it used to be the yellow-gold representing his confidence, it was now black. Having the energy projecting outside of himself also allowed him to have a better feeling for the dark 'texture' to it. Although, now that he thought more about it, this did make sense considering what he was. Now, all he had to do was to use his confidence to draw the battle aura in between his hands. Whenever he needed to do this, Ranma tended to think about all of the past battles he won. It always gave him the extra ego boost he needed to pull off this technique.

However, to Ranma's great surprise, he could not condense the battle aura. Again, he tried upon focusing his confidence to channel the energy, but still it would not work. One more time, he concentrated, this time on imaginary scenarios of him defeating the entire Nerima Wrecking Crew in a gigantic battle. Yet again, a failure. This resulted in his confidence slipping a bit to replaced with some frustration and anger. 'Why won't this work, dammit!'

For a brief instant, Ranma felt the correct channeling of energy towards his hands, but it stopped as fast as it came. Now this confused Ranma. Ki projectile attacks like his Moko Takabisha and Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokodan are based upon have a fairly large battle aura and being able to guide that energy using an emotion where the individual has excess. For him, it was confidence and for Ryoga it was depression.

'How was that little bit of anger that I felt able to channel that much energy so easily?' It was almost as if the energy was meant to be used with…dark…emotions. The answer hit him upon that realization. 'The whole feel to this pishogue is dark, whereas ki doesn't have any such sensation unless an emotion is used to manipulate it.' If this was true, that meant that in order for him to throw an energy projectile again, he would only be able to do so using negative emotions. This made him depressed upon realizing he could not use his true Moko Takabisha anymore. For one thing, that technique used ki and not this pishogue. In addition, confidence could not be used for directing this energy. 'Looks like another sacrifice to this whole mess.' He was always proud of his development of the Moko Takabisha to counteract Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokodan.

One positive note was that he should still be able to throw an energy projectile. Since this energy seemed to be 'programmed' to use negative energy, it would not take a sufficiently large amount to make it work. The other 'good' aspect of this development was that he had plenty of memories to help fuel the necessary emotions.

'Okay. Now let's try this again.' Once again finding his center, the dark aura reappeared. 'Boy, that is going to take some getting used to. It's pretty creepy.' All he had to do was find a dark memory to help focus the anger that would be needed. The most prominent one that came to mind was his father during the Neko-ken training.

As he thought more and more about those damn animals and how merciless his father was to him then, Ranma's anger rose to greater and greater heights. 'I begged him to stop throwing him in that pit and he just shrugged it off. That bastard!'

Had someone been looking at Ranma's eyes, they would have noticed that their red-blue colors were darkening into a blood red. Using all of his anger at his father during that time, Ranma easily channeled the energy in a black, swirling ball between his hands.

As Ranma's eyes flashed pure red, he lifted his hands into the air and shouted out in rage, "Damn you, Oyaji!!!" However, with so little practice on handling this type of power, the energy exploded right there.

Back to the present…

With a bottle of sake in hand, Mara casually strolled out of the house and around the koi pond towards the trashed dojo. 'Hmm. Pretty impressive for a first time. It seems like all of his advanced martial arts training has helped him immensely with energy manipulation to be able learn the most basic of pishogue manipulation so quickly.' As she came closer to the dojo, Mara assessed the damage done more thoroughly. The entire dojo had practically collapsed into a pile of lumber...on top of Ranma. 'That had to have hurt.'

The demoness stepped onto the dojo floor, which was surprising intact. She assumed his energy must have been fired just upward and to the sides. In the center of dojo remains, Mara noticed a large pile of debris, which is where she assumed Ranma was buried under. Hearing a faint groaning coming front around that area made her postulation correct. After walking next to the pile, Mara made a wave of her hand. The lumber flew off to the side. Now the demoness was able to see an exhausted and beaten Ranma on the floor. "Oh, well. Nothing a little drink won't fix."

Enough being said, Mara popped the top of the sake bottle. She was tempted to just pour the contents onto him and leave some of it dribble into his mouth, but decided against it. She did want some of it for herself. Therefore, Mara knelt down and lifted Ranma's head off the floor. She slowly poured some of the contents down Ranma's throat. While the alcohol was starting to take effect on Ranma, Mara looked for a while at his bare chest. Her mouth all of the sudden felt a little dry, so she took a drink of the bottle as well. This was when Ranma started to regain full consciousness. Quickly, Mara set his head down and put a few feet between them.

Ranma moaned as reality began to reassert itself with him. Squinting his eyes open, he noticed Mara standing near him, holding a bottle.

"You awake yet, 'dear.'"

Growling softly, "No fiancé jokes, Mara. I got one hell of a headache right now." After his senses cleared, he took a look at the damage and groaned. Most of the dojo was a wreck now with only the walls and some of the roof surviving. There was no way he could fix all of it in a couple of days. He could just imagine everyone's reaction. Soun and his pop were going to gang up on him, the former with his demon head and the latter wailing as well as screaming about his worthless boy. Akane was going to probably pound him to the ground or the air (or both), Nabiki was going to take every yen he had to his name for years to come, and Kasumi…well, Kasumi will probably say, "Oh, my!"

Mara interrupted his thoughts. "You know you're pretty lucky that you weren't able to channel too much of your energy yet. You could have easily vaporized that entire block into a smoldering crater if you weren't careful."

Blanching at the imagery, Ranma was thankful that she was right. He also berated himself for his lack of control. Thankfully, nobody did get hurt (except for himself, of course). Almost shaking with effort, Ranma was able to pull himself to his feet, although he almost fell over again as another wave of dizziness hit him.

"Here. Take some of this," Mara stated, while holding out the bottle she was carrying.

Ranma looked at it, saw the word 'sake' on it, and understood what she meant. Reaching out, he grabbed the bottle and quickly downed some of it. Almost immediately, he could feel some of his strength returning. After taking another sip, he handed the bottle back to her and belatedly said, "Thanks."

Mara shrugged indifferently, and then questioned, "So, you were trying to throw an energy blast by my guess, right?"

After sighing, Ranma answered, "Yeah. First off, I started testing my skills with this new energy…It is called pishogue, right?" Seeing Mara nod, he continued, "Well, anyway, after that, I wanted to try out some of my special techniques to see how they would be. One of mine…was the Moko Takabisha, but that worked on confidence. I figured out that this new energy doesn't work with good emotions, so I tried anger, and…, well, the rest I guess you know…," he ended sheepishly.

Mara smirked in response, though internally she was rather impressed with him. His file was not kidding about his adaptivity. He picked up on some of the basic pishogue mechanics without any instruction. Taking a look around the room, her grin widened a bit as an idea came to her. "Well, this place sure is a mess. How long do you think its gonna take to fix it up?"

Giving a face of disgust, Ranma too looked around again at the damage and replied, "I dunno…" Ranma sighed and continued, "…but not before everyone comes back." An idea popped into his. He glanced at Mara questioningly, then spoke, "Unless you use magic. It would be done practically in no time."

On the inside, Mara smiled at his predictable thinking processes. 'This is way too easy.' She answered simply, "No."

Ranma blinked a couple of times, then repeated almost incredulously, "No?"

The demoness nodded her head, then affirmed, "No…" She was about to continue, but Ranma interrupted her.

"Okay. What do ya want?"

This time it was Mara's turn to blink. "Excuse me."

Sighing, he elaborated, "Isn't this how it usually goes? Now ya tell me what I gotta do to get ya to help me." 'This is what Nabiki usually does,' Ranma thought wryly.

Mara raised an eyebrow, but she was thinking, 'Well, that wasn't what I had in mind, but it could prove useful to do to him in the future.' She was just going to make learning the spell a challenge so that he would be more willing to be taught magic, given that his mind seemed to work that way…but since he asked. Her mind wandered off into a couple of fantasies that made her chuckle darkly.

The faraway, glazed look on hers did nothing to ease Ranma's nerves. The evil laugh subsequently caused him to sweat in response. This did not bode well for him.

Mentally shaking off the daydreams, Mara decided to be lenient on kid, but filed away the same blackmail tactic for future reference. She also highlighted 'basic negotiation skills' in the list of things in which Ranma needed to be educated. "No, Ranma. What I was thinking was that I could help you learn the spell to repair the dojo."

Ranma blinked a few times in surprise. "Oh, um, okay…Do you think there's gonna be enough time to do that? Everyone's supposed to be back tomorrow."

Tapping a finger to her chin, Mara responded, "There should be. You have already picked up on some of the basics on your own." She shrugged. "The rest should easily fall into place." The demoness smirked and then snapped her fingers. In an instant, Mara had a lab coat on top of her current attire in addition to wearing a pair of glasses and holding a ruler.

Ranma, on the other hand, found himself sitting in a desk and quite bewildered by the current development. "Ummm…"

In a stern lecture tone, Mara spoke, "Please take out your demon training manual."

Looking incredulously at the demoness and still disoriented from the drastic change in atmosphere, Ranma was only able to utter out, "H-huh…"

Calmly walking up beside his desk, Mara held the ruler out and smacked it upside his head.

"Oww!!!" Ranma rubbed the back of his irritably from the impact. "What did ya do that for!?!" He was surprised that the ruler didn't break upon hitting him. She must have been channeling energy through it to hurt as much as it did.

Mara smirked and then answered, "You're slacking off already, student. If I'm going to be teaching you spells, you're first going to need to learn the basics of what being a demon is all about. Now get to work."

Ranma grumbled a bit under his breath about 'tomboy teachers' and 'wannabe taskmasters.'

Of course, Mara heard him and, instead of hitting with the ruler, zapped him with a small lightning bolt. She growled out, "What was that?"

With smoke coming of his slightly fizzled hair, Ranma muttered, "Nothing, sensei."

'Sensei. Hmm…I could get to like that. Heheheh…' thought Mara. Outloud, she spoke, "Read the first three chapters. If I remember correctly, that should be enough to start off with before we begin spell training."

"Yeah. Yeah," griped Ranma. Remembering how the librarian told him to summon the book, he concentrated for a second and willed the book to appear on the desk. Opening it to the first chapter, Ranma read the title, 'Chapter 1: Demonhood for Dummies.' Ranma sweatdropped as he realized that the 'For Dummies' book series was probably one of those patented products from which Nifelheim made money. Ranma himself was quite the customer for that particular company.

For the next several hours, Ranma continued to read the book in the strange language that he could somehow understand. It was actually quite interesting to him, much more so than the boring books for his classes at Furinken. The content consisted about the Yggdrasil system and how it connected as well as ran all three planes of existence, Asgard, Midgard, and Nifelheim. Ranma was also immensely grateful that the reading was not taking as long as he thought. This was mainly due to how many of the pages held illustrations to exemplify what the book's subject matter was.

The second chapter mainly focused on what he had already learned from his training session in the morning, which was how to properly focus and channel pishogue. He had to admit, however, that if he did not have prior experience with ki manipulation, those lessons could have taken weeks just to get down the basics.

While Ranma was reading the material in front of him, Mara was once again playing video games on the portable unit she seemingly carried everywhere. What the demoness really wanted was to find some people around to play havoc on, but according to her own senses, there were no high-energy humans in the district (meaning none of the main characters Ranma usually got into trouble with were around). She figured that they probably went wherever everyone in this house had gone. With nothing better to do, she decided to try and increase her skills with video games. "I'll beat you yet, Urd," muttered Mara under her breath.

Ranma blinked as he thought Mara said something. Occasionally, he kept hearing the demoness mentioning something about beating someone named Urd, but he shook it off and continued onto the third chapter, which seemed to talk about the basics of spell casting. He hated to admit it, but the book was getting pretty interesting. It had probably been the most fun he had reading in a long time, if ever. This was probably because he was beginning to see how much work actually was involved when casting spells. Hild seemed to be right when she said magic required a different level of concentration.

Eventually, Ranma finished the last chapter of his 'assignment.' After stretching the kinks out in his back, he placed his hand onto the book and willed it back to wherever it went. Looking at Mara, he noticed that she was still playing the portable video game. After waiting a while and seeing she was not really paying attention to anything else, Ranma decided to get her attention. "Yo, um, sensei!"

Blinking out of her concentration, Mara looked at Ranma and questioned, "Oh, you done?" Not waiting for an answer, she stood up and stretched. Afterwards, she put the video game away faster than even Ranma could notice where it went. "Well, let's move onto the next lesson." With a snap of her fingers, the lab coat and glasses she was wearing were gone. "Before we go into spell casting, I want you to perform an exercise that will help you have a bit better pishogue control."

Ranma raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

Smirking, Mara stated, "Flying lessons."

His eyes opening in surprise, Ranma repeated incredulously, "Flying lessons!"

Instead of confirming her own previous words, Mara floated up into the air. This caused Ranma to almost stumble in shock. Sure, he saw demonic creatures flying around in Nifelheim, but they were all using wings to do so.

Now that he thought about it, flying for him would be easy. He had already seen how Herb was able to float, but the guy had dragon ancestry, and as a result, a huge ki reservoir. With all of the energy he now had, flying should be simple.

After the concept of actual flight sunk into his brain, Ranma was filled with such anticipation and glee that he could not help but smile. One of main specialties of the Saotome Branch of Anything Goes was mid-air combat and using various maneuvers to maintain time in the air as long as possible. Now he would actually be able to fly. It was like a dream come true.

Mara, who was now on the ground, was sweatdropping at the sparkly-eyed look on Ranma's face. It was similar to the one at "Hell's Paradise" when he found out he could eat all that he wanted and did not have to pay for it. Mara was finding that expression to be very disturbing and all-around creepy. To break him out of this state, she coughed loudly and spoke, "Um, Ranma?"

Snapping out of his stupor, Ranma replied with obvious enthusiasm, "Yes, sensei?"

With her sweatdrop growing slightly larger, Mara asked, "Uh, are you ready to start?"

Ranma responded with the same level of excitement, "Yes, sensei!"

"Uh, right." Shaking her thoughts about his current weirdness, she went on with the lesson, "Close your eyes and concentrate on your energy." Ranma eagerly complied. Once she felt the necessary focus was maintained, Mara continued, "Good. First, I want you to simply float into the air. Doing this is pretty simple. All you have to do is channel the pishogue towards you lower body." After her senses told her he had accomplished that task, she added, "Now, push that energy towards the ground…Think of it like jumping into the air, and firing a ki blast below you to increase her height, except you do not need that first leap to move." After rubbing her chin thoughtfully, she resumed, "Another way to think of it is how a rocket uses propulsion to move in the direction it needs to go."

After a few moments, Mara smirked as she sensed him doing as told. Of course, there was one tiny detail she left out.

"Ahhhhhh!!!" screamed Ranma as he was propelled high up into the air. And as gravity exerted itself, he plummeted straight downward and crashed hard onto the floor.

"Oops. Did I forget to mention only to use a little bit of energy?" Mara innocently asked.

"Yes, I think you did," replied Ranma, though it sounded muffled with his face firmly implanted in a new hole on the floor.

After picking himself off of the floor, Ranma turned to the snickering Mara. "Ha. Ha. Very funny." Sarcasm dripped from his statement.

Shrugging indifferently, Mara stated, "Well, you should have better control over your energy."

Ranma grumbled, but accepted the words as truth. He should have had better control and channeled the energy more slowly, but he was too excited to notice such things. Of course, she probably sensed he was using too much power to start off with, but 'forgot' to mention that little fact to get a few kicks out of it. "Yeah, whatever…So I guess all I gotta do to move in any direction then is channel energy outwards from the opposite direction."

Mara nodded, slightly impressed. "Exactly. Pretty simple, isn't it?"

With a familiar arrogant smirk on his face, Ranma replied, "Nothing keeps Ranma Saotome down for long."

Once again Mara shook her head at the sheer ego Ranma had. 'Of course, sometimes, I'm not much better,' she privately added.

Ranma once again had a look of concentration on his face. However, this time his eyes were not closed. All of the sudden Ranma was slowly lifting into the air. His face displayed a smile of satisfaction. Tentatively, his body began to move slowly in various directions. He then began to vary his speed in the same sequence for about fifteen minutes.

Mara was getting bored just watching Ranma and was about to call out to him, when all of a sudden Ranma zoomed up into the air at a high velocity, exclaiming, "Yahoooooooo!"

A bit surprised at the action, Mara was curious as to what he was up to. She noted that as he reached a fairly high altitude, he rolled into the air until he was pointing downward. Then, Ranma made a straight divebomb towards the ground. When it looked like he was to about to crash, he suddenly made a U-turn and stopped in mid-air.

Grinning wide from the freedom from flying through the air, Ranma stated, "Thanks a lot, Mara! This is great!"

Still a bit stunned from the surprise, Mara only nodded.

While in the air, Ranma began to perform basic katas. Eventually, he worked up his way to the advanced ones, and soon after he was adapting them to continuous flight rather than the brief seconds that they were originally designed for.

During all of this, Mara simply watched in fascination. She could not herself but to continue watching the beautiful display before her. Not only was the level of skill that Ranma was showing a rarity among mortals, but the way he adapted to flying was like he was made for there.

Then there was the most startling aspect of his appearance in her eyes. It was the carefree and content expression on his face, which showed every bit of the happiness that he felt. 'When was the last time I looked like that?' Mara sullenly asked herself. The answer immediately came to mind. 'At the hotsprings.' She remembered that one night where she and the goddesses were able to set aside their differences for a short time. 'Even if it was partly because of Belldandy's 'punishment',' she added, smirking a bit from the memory. Then Mara recalled the events of yesterday and remembered that she actually was having fun at that time as well. Suddenly, things did not seem so bad.

Mara shook her head from her reminiscence. She did not know why lately those past recollections were coming to mind lately, but it was getting quite annoying. And so the demoness settled done and comfortably watched Ranma perform his Art until the beginning hours of the evening.

Ranma lost himself into the Art. He had no concept of what time it was, nor did he care. All that mattered to him was the feel of the wind against his body as he performed feats of strength and skill that would awe most martial arts masters, especially when considering the current flying aspect.

After he finalized the last kata of his practice, he lowered himself onto the ground and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm. All of the sudden Ranma heard clapping from the side. Startled, he turned to see Mara was one giving him applause.

"Nicely done, Ranma. Very impressive," she complimented.

Ranma scratched the back of his head in false modesty. "Well, you know…," he left open.

Mara rolled her eyes at the bad attempt at humility. "Now that you're done, let's get something to drink."

Blinking, Ranma noticed that it was around evening. "Wow, I guess I lost track of time," he noted a bit nervously.

Shrugging, Mara stated, "No problem. Your performance was quite…enlightening."

"Well, I'm gonna wash off now." Ranma pulled out his shirt from the rubble and proceeded to walk towards the house.

"Do you want some company?" Mara purred out. "You know, I'll wash your back if you wash mine."

Noticeably stiffening from the question, Ranma stuttered out, "T-that's okay. I think I'll be fine on my own." He quickened his pace until it is was almost a light run.

Mara shook her head unbelievingly. 'Man, talk about paranoia. What kind of fiancées does he have to make him this high strung?' Shrugging her shoulders, she walked at a slower pace than Ranma into the home. Immediately, Mara walked into the kitchen and went to the cabinet where she found the previous bottle of sake. 'Who would have thought that they would have so much sake? Decent stuff, too.' Opening the bottle, she took a sip from it and settled into the dining room, waiting for Ranma.

Fifteen minutes later…

Ranma descended the stairs, dressed in a blue sleeveless shirt and his traditional black pants, and moved towards the dining room. Wordlessly, Mara held out the bottle to him. Sighing, Ranma nodded his thanks and took it. After drinking a large swig from it, he handed it back to her.

Ranma decided to start the conversation. "You know, Mara, I've been thinking"

"Congratulations," smirked Mara.

Facing twitching slightly, Ranma returned, "Like I haven't heard that before." He continued, "Anyway, how is everyone gonna believe you're my fiancée. I mean, you are sorta…"

Growling slightly, Mara asked in a dangerous tone, "What were you going to say?" Lightning sparks danced around her hands.

With a sweatdrop on his head, Ranma hastily added, "…um, mature! Yeah, that's it! Mature, eh, eh, eh." He nervously scratched the back of his head.

Grumbling, Mara picked up the bottle and drank from it. After calming down, she closed her eyes and chanted.

"O' sea of time and space, Turn back the clock on this face, Change the look of my form, To match this idiot's temporal norm."

When Ranma was about to protest the 'idiot' comment, he was quite surprised to see Mara's form begin to glow, and soon he had to shade his eyes with his hand from the brightness. Once the light went away, Ranma almost facefaulted at the sight before him. Sitting on floor was a Mara in her teens instead of her mid-twenties. "Wha…?" was all Ranma could get out in his shock.

Mara smirked at his stunned face and a mischievous smile appeared on her own. Taking one of his hand, she pressed it against her chest and made his hand squeeze. "See. A complete make-over."

Almost developing a nosebleed from the feelings in his hand, Ranma frantically pulled the appendage from her and scooted away. "W-what the hell was that about!?!" he exclaimed in shock.

Still maintaining the playful smirk, she simply stated, "Well, I just wanted for ya to see how complete the change was." She continued in a more normal time, "Anyway, as you can see, that spell I cast changed my physical age to the same as yours. So, there's no problem."

Ranma was still a bit overwhelmed by the past couple of minutes, so he only nodded.

Mara raised an eyebrow at his mannerisms, but shrugged it off. "While we're talking about spell casting, why don't we have ya try it on the dojo. You did say they were coming back tomorrow." She stepped up, took the sake bottle, and walked towards the back.

Shaking off his disorientation, Ranma stated, "S-sure. Why not." He then followed her into the backyard. While walking behind her, Ranma asked, "Okay. I can see how that…age spell ya cast will help with them believing you're another fiancée, but what about our aura's. The old ghoul, the freak, and about every other marital artist in the district will be able to feel them."

Stopping for a second, Mara turned around and responded, "Don't worry about it. Full demons and gods have built into them shields that prevent mortals from detecting what we are. They might feel something is 'off' about us, but the shield prevents their minds from making the connection. They also aren't able to see our demon marks. The only reason you were able to detect the nature of my energy and see my marks was because shields like that are brought down for a client." After a moment's thought, she added, "The only people who can tell that we are demons are other demons, gods, or those with a substantial amount of deity in their blood. And that's only when we don't cast temporary high level shields on ourselves."

Ranma breathed out a sigh of relief at that. He was actually surprised that he had not thought of that detail later. Then again, it was probably because it was not on his priority list of things on his mind beforehand.

Once the two of them were outside of the demolished dojo, Mara began her lecture. "Okay. As you can recall from your readings, all of reality is essentially a program run by a computer system called Yggdrasil, or the World Tree. Spells are basically programs that are used to manipulate reality…Now I want you to once again close your eyes and get your focus. Fixing things is actually a bit harder for demons than gods since our powers aren't really meant for that." He did as he was told and she continued. "Good. Next, think of the way the dojo was before you blew it up." That last comment was added with a smirk.

Ranma grimaced but did as he was told. It was a good thing he had been in the dojo (or flying over the dojo) to remember how it looked. After a few moments, he nodded to the demoness.

The demoness resumed, "Okay, now all you have to do is say some words that will 'force' what you want to happen. Remember, the words need to specific enough so that the lines of power weave properly. They don't really have to be poetic in any form, but that usually makes your focus better on what you want accomplished." 'This should be interesting.' Mara could already guess what was going on his mind. 'Probably cursing about his lack of vocabulary.'

Ranma was internally cursing about this last step. 'I'm no good with words.' He was one who tended to think only in strategy and with his fists, not with language. Nonetheless, he decided to give it a shot, though it took him a few minutes to come up with the words.

"Make this dojo as it laid, Reverse the damages that were made."

As he spoke the words, he could feel lines of energy enclosing the dojo. It was like forming a web of power as the book said. All of a sudden he felt a large magical discharge from himself towards the dojo. Excitedly, he opened his eyes and found the dojo's damages…reversed. Where the roof was previously collapsed, it was fixed, and where it was okay beforehand, it was now damaged. The same applied to the rest of the building.

"Well…the damages are reversed" Mara commented while trying to contain her laughter…and failing miserably.

"Oh, shut up," Ranma muttered. Closing his eyes, he centered himself and tried once again.

For a couple of hours and into the midst of night, spell after spell was made in trying to fix the dojo, but there was always something wrong with it. One of his attempts fixed the entire building, but made it upside down. Ranma was only able to stare stupidly at it for a few moments. How the whole building was balanced on the angled roof was beyond him. That failure was topped off, at least in his opinion, when the building turned into an Egyptian pyramid. Ranma could not understand how that happened.

While all of this was happening, Mara was being quite entertained. The various results of Ranma's efforts were hilarious, though she too was confused on how upside-down building and the pyramid versions occurred.

Looking angrily at the dojo, Ranma tried to figure out what was going wrong. Deciding that thinking from the beginning might help, he recalled the spell Mara was able to cast correctly. Ranma almost slapped himself for not previously realizing what to do. Taking a calming breath, he chanted.

"Change the shape of this land, To before I razed it by my hand."

According to Ranma's senses, the familiar pull of magic formed. Opening his eyes, he was quite pleased with himself to see the building as it was before he blew it up.

"Good job, Ranma, though it took you long." Ranma seemed a bit put off by her comment, but he declined to retort. Mara raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Razed it?"

This time Ranma did react. A little sheepishly, Ranma responded, "Yeah, well, when you're responsible for the destruction of enough buildings, you tend to hear a lot of words for it for over time."

Rolling her eyes, Mara tossed him the sake bottle, which he deftly caught. "Whatever. I'm going to soak in the furo and go to bed early." She smirked, "It'll probably be a busy day tomorrow." She then walked back towards the house.

Dumbly, Ranma nodded his head and said, "Um, okay, and uh, thanks, Mara."

Mara did not reply and merely waved it off.

Once she was back inside the house, Ranma shrugged his shoulders and drank from the bottle. Since there was not a lot left in it, he finished it off and threw the empty bottle into the appropriate recycling bin. 'Oh, what the hell. I might as well get to bed too.' With that thought Ranma proceeded up to his room.

A half-hour later…

As in the previous night, Mara was once more laying on her bed in a black nightgown and thinking of the day's events. Although there was not any of the real excitement of the day before, Mara still could complain about it. There was a definite…homey atmosphere to how everything went.

In addition, it felt different, pretty good in fact, to act like a real woman for a change. Many times she dressed in boyish clothes and displayed the attitude of one. 'Hell, I've even used that image occasionally,' Mara added to herself, recalling when she introduced herself to Keiichi as Belldandy's fiancé.

One thing that confused her, however, was the sudden mischievous impulse she had in taking Ranma's hand to grab her chest.

'I wonder where that came from,' thought Mara as she drifted off into sleep, one in which the past did not haunt her.

In Ranma's room…

In an all too familiar position, Ranma was lying on his bed, his mind awhirl once again with the drastic changes occurring in his life. Not only did he practice normal routines with pishogue, but also he actually learned how to FLY! And if that was not enough, he cast a real spell!

Ranma shook his head from the surreal feeling to the whole situation. What was even more strange was how he was taking almost all of it in stride. Everything had felt…comfortable without the mess of fiancées and rivals out to get him.

And then there was Mara. She had actually done quite a lot to help him out recently, even if it was her assignment from Hild.

Ranma thought, 'I should thank her somehow,' before he drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

The next morning…

Mara slowly woke up as the noises from outside became too loud for her mind to ignore. Grumbling a bit, Mara stretched and lethargically got out of the bed. Almost as an after thought, she snapped her fingers and a loose-fitting robe appeared over the skimpy lingerie that she wore during the night. "Damn kid. Why the hell did he have to wake up so goddamn early in the morning?" she asked to no one in particular. Deciding that she might as well see what he was up to, Mara strolled out of the house and towards the koi pond. Hearing noises above her, Mara looked directly up and saw Ranma training. Wanting to make her presence known, she yelled out, "Yo!" A second later, she decided that probably was not the smartest thing to do.

A minute earlier…

Ranma was vigorously training in the air and it seemed like he could not just get enough of it. He had decided to get up a bit earlier so that he could train longer while flying. With the family coming back today, he probably would not get a real opportunity to do it again for a while. So after getting changed into his training clothes, Ranma immediately went into his workout, though it was in mid-air. He did not even eat breakfast since he wanted to train as long as possible and he did not really need it anymore. The alcohol he drank before bed last night seemed to have replenished his energy reserves pretty well.

And so here he was, currently performing exercises in the air. So focused was he on his training that he did not pay attention to his surroundings at all. Therefore, it was quite the surprise to him that he heard a loud 'Yo!" directly beneath him. This startled the demon out of his concentration.

Had Mara been more fully aware, she probably could have gotten out of the way. However, just having awakened, her motor processes did not react fast enough to move herself.

And so, one recently-ascended demon crashed on top of the more experienced demoness.

And it was at this point, the front door of the house was opened.

The actual crash did not really hurt Mara. She was a first-class demoness and thus made of sterner stuff. The actual bruise was to her ego and how stupid she felt to doing what she did. She should have known that this would have happened. Looking at Ranma, she remarked dryly, "Okay, you can get up now."

Mara's voice seemed to knock Ranma out of his daze. "Oh, um, sorry," he replied nervously. Putting a hand to each side of her body, he pushed himself up and to the side of her. "Are all o…kay…?" Ranma trailed off and Mara noticed that he seemed a bit pale. In fact, he appeared to be looking at something behind her.

Turning around, Mara noticed a group of six people standing in front of the back entrance, four of them were women and two of them men. One of the women, a young girl with black-blue hair, was glowing an angry red.

The eldest woman of the group, who seemed to be carrying an odd bundle with her, exclaimed, "Oh, my son is so manly!"

The two men seemed to be barely containing in their anger. "Son…" growled out one of them, while the other stated fiercely, "Boy…"

The girl with the pageboy haircut smirked and stated in amusement, "Well, well, well, Saotome. What have you been 'up' to?" The 'up' word was especially emphasized. "And what's the deal with the dye in your hair?"

The young woman with the long ponytail over her shoulder put a hand to her mouth and simply said, "Oh my!"

It seemed as if the youngest of the group could no longer take it anymore. "Raaannnnmmmaaaa!" The girl pulled a mallet out of nowhere, ran up to the shocked martial artist and directly belted him into the atmosphere before he could say a word.

This seemed to snap Mara out of her daze. Looking up she could see the dot of Ranma Saotome flying over the horizon. This caused her to sweatdrop slightly. Shaking her head to clear its thoughts, Mara turned her attention towards the yard's other occupants. Noticing that she was now the center of attention, Mara rose up from the grass and fixed her robe.

Now that she had a better grasp of her bearings, Mara took stock of the situation. The first people she examined where the three youngest ones. 'Hmm. The one who…malleted Ranma must be Akane and the other two must be her sisters.' Mara blinked as a realization hit here. 'Wait a minute…' Looking at the three sisters, Mara noted that the Akane girl had a mallet. Turning her view slightly, she noticed that one of the other sisters had a calculating and manipulative gleam in her eye. Examining the last one, Mara observed how she radiated peace and tranquility. A devious smile would have formed on Mara's face had she not controlled herself. 'This assignment might not be so bad after all.'

And in a surprisingly ironic fashion, Mara greeted everyone with, "Hi. The name's Mara. Sorry about this."

End Chapter 4.

Author's Notes:

(1) Children can be fickle about such things.

This chapter actually ended up a lot longer than I had originally planned out, but a couple of ideas popped into my head while writing along and so I just kept on going. A big thank you goes out to all of the fans of this fanfic for their support. Also, please continue with the helpful C&C.

-ranmafan1


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ranma ½, Ah! My Goddess, or any other trademarked/copyrighted product in this fanfiction. They were created by people a lot more imaginative than me. I am also not making any money off of this. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

Note: This story takes place after the Jusendo incident. Ranma is about to enter his junior year of high school. This story starts towards the end of the summer break.

Pursuing a New Path

by ranmafan1

Chapter 5: Here's Mara

Flying over Nerima was not a new experience for Ranma Saotome. He had done so numerous times thanks to his various suitors or rivals. It had been done so many times to him that it began to feel like some sort of running gag from an anime. During these occasions, Ranma usually had a bit of time to reflect on certain matters. At the apex of his climb into the atmosphere, Ranma idly noted that the punches themselves did not really hurt so much. It was the landing parts that were a pain. In fact, it was probably due to all those falls that made the Bakusai Tengetsu training fairly easy when he went through it. Finding people willing to push boulders attached to ropes into him was not really that difficult, though he was a little nervous with all of the leather they wore and the gleeful expressions that crossed their faces when the rocks smashed into him.

Ranma's thoughts turned back to just before his irate fiancée booted him into the air. He recalled Nabiki making a comment about his hair. One thing he forgot to take into account was explaining the changes in his looks (especially in his girl form). 'What the hell am I going to do?' Ranma knew simply lying was out of the question, since he was not really good at it. Hell, he had to practically cover his entire face when playing poker against the Gambling King! 'Hmm, maybe Mara has an idea. I can't let this whole demon thing get out.' Ranma blinked as a sudden realization hit him. 'Wait a minute. I'm a demon and can fly! I don't have to hit the ground!' Of course, this insight came a bit too late and Ranma created yet another crater within Nerima.

A minute later passed and a groaning Ranma pulled himself out of the large whole in the ground. 'Damn, Akane had to be pretty mad for it to be this big.' It was almost a record for her. "Ah, well," he muttered to himself while briefly dusting off his clothes. Taking a look at his surroundings, Ranma noted, with some trepidation, that he was in the back of the Nekohaten. Why of all places he had to land here was beyond him, but one thing was for sure, he had to leave before…

"Nihao!!!" cried an ultra-bubbly voice from behind, which was immediately followed by the Amazon glomp. "Airen come to visit Shampoo? Shampoo so happy!" exclaimed the woman with obvious cheer. Looking at her 'husband' with love-struck eyes, Shampoo blinked as she realized something, while loosening her grip on him. "What Airen do to hair?" Moving in a little closer, Shampoo blinked and continued, "And eyes?"

Before Ranma could even utter a word, another voice resounded to the side of him. "That is what I would like to know as well, son-in-law?"

"Gah!" shouted Ranma in surprise. As he jumped in shock out of Shampoo's clutches, which was easy since her hold on him relaxed, Ranma turned and was staring downwards at Cologne, who was holding her ever-present staff. "Would you quit that, ya old ghoul!?!" Closing his eyes reflexively for the whack on his cranium that occurred whenever he mentioned that particular nickname, Ranma realized that the blow never came. For some reason, this made him even more nervous. Opening his eyes, he noted the Amazon elder was pearly closely at him, as if she were dissecting every aspect of his being. The whole experience was pretty much freaking him out and he wished to leave the area as fast as possible.

While the dealings between the two were occurring, Shampoo alternately was casting curious glances between her great-grandmother and beloved.

Cologne broke the silence by stating, "That is quite an interesting look on you, son-in-law."

Sweating slightly under her intense stare, Ranma only was able to manage out, "Uhhhh…," since he was completely baffled as to what to say to get him out of this situation.

When Ranma opened his mouth, Cologne, who was observing him more closely than most people were capable of, narrowed her eyes. With an expert level of skill, the elder twirled her staff and pressed its tip against Ranma's upper lip. Lifting said part up, Cologne narrowed her eyes even further upon noticing one of Ranma's recently acquired fangs. In a deceptively calm voice, Cologne quietly muttered to herself, "My, my, my…"

Looking at her grandmother's line-of-sight, Shampoo exclaimed, "Aiyah! Airen have fangs like Lost Boy!"

Slowly backing away from her staff, Ranma stammered, "Well, there is, uh, a, uh, perfectly reasonable explanation for this, but I, uh, need to get back, to the, uh, dojo…um, Bye!" Enough being said, Ranma took off towards the dojo via rooftops.

Shampoo looked as if she were going to follow until she heard her Cologne say, "Leave him be for now, great-granddaughter."

Although she seemed about to protest, Shampoo reluctantly accepted her great-grandmother's words and headed back into the restaurant. Before she entered through the door, Cologne spoke again in the same neutral tone, "I want you to pay close attention to son-in-law, great-granddaughter." The Matriarch was staring in the direction that Ranma had left with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Blinking a few times in confusion, Shampoo, nevertheless, complied, "Yes, great-grandmother." She then proceeded in entering the Nekohaten while contemplating the puzzling past few minutes, especially with regards to her husband's new look. To the Amazon princess, they did not diminish his appearance at all. On the contrary, they seemed to give him an air of danger, and to a warrior woman like her, made Ranma all the more appealing. Shampoo sighed in happiness and returned to work with renewed vigor.

For a few moments, Cologne remained standing in contemplation. Suddenly, she hopped onto her staff and pogoed into the Nekohaten while still deep in thought.

Meanwhile at the Tendo Dojo…

Mara was finding herself the subject to six simultaneous stares, or in one case a blatant glare. 'Now how to deal with this?' the demoness said to herself. But before she could formulate a sufficient plan, one of the individuals broke the peace.

"Mara who?" asked the girl with the pageboy-cut hair in a cool, collected tone.

Mara raised an amused eyebrow slightly at her, but did not immediately comment. 'Now what should I call myself.' All of a sudden, inspiration struck her. 'Well, it's not the most original name.' "Demonica," she casually stated, "Mara Demonica."

This time it was Nabiki who raised an eyebrow at the gaijin woman.

The eldest woman present adjusted the wrapped bundle she was carrying and spoke, "Well, young lady, what is your relationship with my son?" She glanced suspiciously at the heavier-set man, who sweated slightly under her gaze.

Mara smiled brilliantly, "Why, I'm his fiancée!" Everyone, save the two elder Tendo sisters, glared at the man in the white gi, who shrunk back under their collective gaze.

Nodoka sighed heavily and turned back to Mara. "I assume that there was an agreement made between your parents and my husband, Genma Saotome."

Nodding slightly, Mara answered, "Yup, there sure is." After sighing, she continued, "And then Ranma tells me that he has a whole bunch of other fiancées too." She glowered at Genma briefly and then added, "I contacted my parents about this. Let me tell you, they weren't happy about it. They said to stay around here until they could come and straighten this all out. Unfortunately, they are on a business trip and won't be able to come here for a while, so I'm supposed to go to school and expand my 'cultural diversity.'" Internally, Mara was proud of her little cover story, especially since it was just made up.

Now it was the tall man with a moustache that cleared his throat into his hand and spoke, "I see, miss, but that does not explain why you are here and why you were in, er, the, um, compromising position before." The last statement made the glow around the girl with black-blue hair intensify slightly.

Putting a finger to her chin in mock thinking, she answered, "Seeing as how I didn't have a place to stay and that there was a spare room, Ranma was nice enough to let me hang around here for a while. As for the second part, well, I was watching him practice and I sort of startled him."

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Soun commented, "Spare room. The only one besides the main guest room is…?" He trailed off as realization hit him, making him suddenly nervous. "Y-you were in the M-master's bedroom!" Both of the elder men shuddered in synchronization.

Mara blinked, but then shrugged her shoulders. "Well Ranma did say someone named Happosai was staying in it, but that it wouldn't be a problem."

Soun and Genma looked around the frantically. The former then exclaimed, "Don't say his name!"

Mara rolled her eyes, but continued, "Anyway, we cleaned up the room, and let me tell you, it was a pretty big mess." She barely withheld a grimace of distaste when noticing that the smile on Kasumi's face increased slightly from her statement.

"So," interrupted Nabiki, "what exactly was Ranma traded for this time?" Her voice had some suspicion to it.

"Hmmm," Mara looked thoughtful for a moment, "I'm not really sure. Let me go and get the contract." The robed woman walked past them and towards her room. She felt the eyes of those in the back follow her movements until she was out of sight, but they did not bother her in the slightest. Before she was out of hearing range, a voice rang out, "What do you have to say for yourself, Genma!?!" which was followed by a series of whimpers on another's part.

After entering her room and closing the door, Mara willed her nightwear into a more suitable shorts and shirt combination, both of which were black. Holding her hand out, a folder appeared in it. After opening the contents, Mara noted that the system changed it to reflect her chosen name. Speed-reading through it in a couple of minutes, the blond demoness raised an eyebrow at some of the material. As an afterthought, she also withdrew about five million yen from her account and put it into her pocket. Looking around the room, Mara decided to add some clothing to the closets so as not to arouse suspicion. After a negligent wave to do said action, she nodded to herself in satisfaction and left the room.

Upon her return to the backyard, Mara noted that the whispered conversation they were discussing among themselves silenced. When she rejoined them, Mara stated while holding the folder into the air, "Well, here's the contract." Off hand, the demoness saw that Akane seemed calmer, though she still held a large amount of irritation on her face.

Without asking, Nabiki grabbed the material and started to look through it. Mara was barely able to keep her temper in check from the impudence. 'Must not smear girl onto ground. Must not smear girl onto ground. Discretion must be maintained. Yeah, discretion.' The mantra repeated through her head until she calmed down.

Nabiki's voice brought Mara's attention back to the outside world. "Hmm, it looks like a Code I?" Another round of glares were issued towards Genma, who looked as if he wanted to jump into the koi pond.

Blinking, Mara asked, "Code I?"

In response, Nabiki smirked in an all-knowing fashion, which was already starting to annoy Mara. "Since so many suitors come by now and then, we figured it was more convenient to classify them according to types. Code I is for food, Code II is for sake, and Code III is money. Dowries are categorized under which heading they follow."

Sweatdropping, Mara reminded herself to look at Ranma's main file someday and see how many fiancées he actually had. 'At least legal did a pretty good job.'

That was more or less the same thoughts on Nabiki's mind. When scanning through the folder, she could not believe the detailed accuracy of the contract. 'Whoever this Mara's family is, they must have access to some of the best lawyers in the world.'

Nodoka broke into the conversation. "So what are your plans now, dear?"

Shrugging, Mara answered, "Like I said before, stay around for bit until the folks can come and straighten out this mess. I guess I'll be going to school in the meantime." She quickly grabbed the contract back from Nabiki, who seemed a little peeved after the action.

Continuing with her questioning, she asked, "But where are you going to reside?" With a calculating eye, Nodoka thought, 'Perhaps if she stays with me, I can help her to dress like a proper young lady, even if she is gaijin.'

Acting with hesitance, Mara responded, "Uh, I was kinda hoping I could live here. I mean, some of you go to the same school, so it would be more convenient that way." Silently, Mara added to herself, seemingly reading Nodoka's thoughts, 'No way are you getting me into any frilly kimonos.'

Nodoka kept her silence, realizing the truth behind the words, though there was some slight disappointment in her eyes.

As one, Soun and Genma looked at each other and nodded. They knew another fiancée in the house would further strain Ranma and Akane's relationship. That was something they could not allow. Being the owner of the house, Soun decided to break the news, Nervously putting his hand on his hand, he stated, "Well, um, Mara, the problem is that we don't simply have the finances to help support another freeloa-, um, guest. But, we'll be happy in helping you finding somewhere to stay. Perhaps, even Mrs. Sao…"

Mara cut him off before he could finish his statement. "If money is a concern, there shouldn't be a problem. How about for room, board, and utilities, I give you four million yen cash for my stay here?"

Stunned silence ruled the backyard for a moment. Even the ever calm Kasumi was baffled by the amount offered.

Now Soun Tendo was not as greedy as his lifelong friend Genma Saotome. However, when being offered so much money for what could only be a month of living arrangements was too good of an offer to pass up. Therefore before even Nabiki could get the chance to speak, Soun zoomed up to Mara and shook her hand in an exaggerated fashion while simultaneously screaming out, "Deal!"

Breaking off from the handshake, Mara apparently pulled out of nowhere a paper and pen. "Could you then please sign this?" Without even bothering to read the document, Soun took the pen and hastily wrote his signature on it and gave her the items back.

Nabiki bit back an angry retort to her father for signing the contract. 'He did it so fast I couldn't even get to speak.' A person who was willing to offer so much money as an initial offer would have the resources to be negotiated for an even higher rent. But now, this Mara person basically got to live here as long as she needed with the one time offer, especially if that contract was as meticulous as the other one.

Of course, Mara knew all of this in advance. That is why she offered a relatively large amount in the beginning for an undetermined length of stay. From what she saw so far, this Nabiki would most likely continue to try and find ways to get as much money as possible off of her in rent increases and such. With this method, however, all of those contingencies were covered. Looking the document once over, Mara rolled the contract up and put it with the betrothal contract. Taking a large wad of money out of her back pocket (one that made two sets of eyes especially hungry), she counted out the required money and handed it to an eager Soun, who grabbed it excitedly. "Nice doing business with ya," stated Mara while putting the money back into her pocket.

While Soun and Genma were practically drooling at the large amount of money, Nabiki snuck up to them and yanked the money from their hands. "Sorry, Daddy, but this isn't bar money."

Whimpering slightly from the loss, the two looked at her, but eventually hung their heads in resignation.

While the rest of audience was busy discussing issues among themselves, it was at this time that the youngest of the Tendo daughters decided to introduce herself to their latest guest. With Mara's offer of rent, the remnants of Akane's anger faded away. 'At least she's paying money unlike those two freeloaders.' Walking up to the blond, she coughed into her hand to gain the other's attention. "Hi, my name's Akane Tendo."

Mara raised an eyebrow at girl in front of her. Looking her from head to toe, she studied Akane. 'Hmm, just a few minutes ago and she was so angry and now she's trying to be friendly. Doesn't hold onto any emotion for a while, does she?' Mara asked herself.

The demoness' examination was making Akane quite nervous, especially with those unnatural blood red eyes that seemed to stare through her. Akane had to force down a shiver when looking directly at them.

Offering a smirk, Mara finally replied, "Yeah, nice to meet ya. I guess we'll be going to school together, huh?"

Breathing out an internal sigh of relief, Akane smiled and answered, "I guess so. Sorry about before, but well…" She trailed off, unsure on how to continue.

Waving her explanation off, Mara spoke, "Yeah. Yeah. I guess it was a little…suggestive."

Giving off an annoyed and frustrated breath, Akane continued, "It's just…that baka always seems to be glomping onto one of his other fiancées! You'll see for yourself tomorrow. He can't keep his hands off of them…" Her ranting degenerated into mumblings about baka perverts and such.

Shrugging indifferently, Mara responded, "He doesn't seem like that to me…" She trailed off as she felt a demonic presence approaching. 'I guess he wanted to get this over with,' the demoness noted to herself.

After jumping into the backyard, Ranma approached his family and acquaintances with no small amount of trepidation, which increased upon noticing everyone's attention focus on him. It was at this time that Ranma wished he knew how to talk to people. 'I hope Mara knows what to do.' "Uh, yo," he lamely stated.

"So, Saotome, what is with the new look?" asked Nabiki, while continuing her examination. She blinked as Ranma came closer, where she was now able to see his eyes better. 'What the hell!?!' It was hard to miss the red that was mingled with the previous blue. 'Red…just like that Mara person.' Her narrowed her eyes in consideration. 'There seems to be something going on here.'

Apparently, she was not the only one who saw the changes. Nodoka was the first to voice what was on her mind. "Son, what happened to you hair…and your eyes."

This brought Ranma up short. He suddenly froze in his tracks and was unable to say anything useful. "Uhhhh…"

'That moron,' thought Mara with no small amount of irritation. 'Can't he even tell a simple lie. We definitely are going to have to work on that.' Outloud, she spoke, "I'm afraid that was my fault. You see, my parents allowed me to teach Ranma some of my family's art. Learning it…has some side effects like physical changes."

This perked everyone interests. Surprisingly, it was Genma who asked the question everybody was thinking. "So what is your family's style?"

Mara smirked and casually stated, "Demonica School of Energy Manipulation."

This caused crowd to blink in confusion. This time it was Akane who asked, "So, you specialize in ki attacks?" She attempted to hide the disappointment from her voice. To the shorthaired girl, it would had been nice for there to be a fiancée around that did not outclass her in marital arts. 'I still can't even roofhop like the rest of them,' Akane sullenly added to herself.

"Something like that." The demoness then decided to try and switch topics on safer ground. "So, when is lunch usually around here?" It was getting closer to that time of the day, and the oldest Tendo daughter and Ranma's mother both seemed to take great preparation in their meals. Therefore, it was not too far of a stretch that a little prompting would get them talking in the direction she wanted.

"Oh, dear. I had better get lunch started," Kasumi abruptly stated. The Tendo matriarch subsequently proceeded back into the house.

"Do you need any help, Kasumi-chan?" asked the Saotome matriarch.

Still smiling pleasantly, the questioned individual responded, "That would be very helpful, Auntie." Continuing though the door, the two discussed on what dishes to make, the past occurrences already forgotten.

Soun turned to his old friend and inquired, "Well, Saotome, a game of shogi sounds good right about now, doesn't it?"

"Indeed it does, Tendo," affirmed Genma with a nod. The two went about their own way in getting sake and to sit down for a relaxing game.

Mara resisted the urge to facefault, though just barely, on how casually these mortals were accepting Ranma's change in appearance. 'Oh yes,' Mara reminded herself, 'I'm definitely going to look up records on what goes on around here.' It seemed as if the whole household was desensitized to strange occurrences.

So now, it was only Mara, Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki who were left standing in the backyard. The elder of the two remaining Tendo sisters was still looking at both Mara and Ranma with calculating eyes, trying to discern what was going on. Sitting down on one of the steps, Nabiki asked the blond, "So, Mara, why don't you tell us about yourself?" Any information she could get from her might prove invaluable in unlocking the mysteries surrounding this woman.

Of course, Mara saw straight through Nabiki's ploy. The demoness was slightly impressed by the girl's business demeanor, but it was still nothing compared to a demoness of her caliber and experience. "Not much to tell, just that me and my family tend to travel a lot."

Still, Nabiki pressed forward with her questioning. "So where are you from originally?"

'Okay, girl, you're starting to annoy me,' thought Mara with some irritation. To Nabiki, she spoke simply, "Norway."

The middle Tendo sister persisted with another question. "You seem to speak very good Japanese. Why I don't even detect a hint of an accent. You must have had a proficient education."

When Mara was about make another excuse, Akane scolded her sister. "Nabiki, Mara is a guest here. Do you really need to always pry into everybody's lives?" Not bothering to hear an answer, she turned to Mara. "So, I was wondering if you would like to go and spar in the dojo?" There was a hint of anticipation to her voice.

Although she was glad that Nabiki's questioning was interrupted, Mara was not about to go and participate in some pointless fistfight. It just was not her thing. "Sorry, but our style doesn't really focus on physical combat." There was apparent disappointment on Akane's face, but it did not really bother Mara.

With a silent sigh, Akane replied with false enthusiasm, "Oh well." It would have been nice to actually get to spar with someone for a change rather than just trying to hit that dodging baka.

Taking this as the perfect opportunity to exit the scene, Mara stated, "Well, I think I'll go and get a drink." Without waiting for a response, she slowly walked into the house.

Until the demoness was out of sight, Nabiki did not part her eyes from Mara. She was irritated that Akane had to go and disrupt her questioning, but Nabiki was able to resist openly scowling at the interruption from experience. 'Sis will never learn, will she?' she asked herself. Of course the more Nabiki considered the situation, she amended her own thoughts, 'Check that. This whole family will never learn.' Her family (and those friends of the family) did not seem in being able to see past what is put in front of their faces.

This whole situation smelled of something dirty, but she could not put her finger on it. 'Oh well…it's only a matter of time before I figure out what's going on,' she told herself. Nabiki was tempted to stick around and see the possible fireworks (aka Ranma-bashing) that might occur since it was a good source of entertainment, but decided against it. There would always be other opportunities at a later date and she wanted to observe Mara some more. A lunch atmosphere might lower Mara's guard enough to slip some insight about herself. Besides, if they were arguing loudly, the dining room was close enough to hear their dispute anyway. "I guess I'll go in and wait for lunch." Nabiki stood up and walked inside the house to watch over their unexpected guest.

With Ranma and Akane being the only ones in the yard, an uncomfortable silence hung over them. Neither of them knew where to begin the conversation and so no one spoke. After a few moments, Ranma tentatively asked, "So, um, how was the, uh, trip?"

Akane let out an internal sigh of relief. Regardless, her response was just as hesitant as the question inquired. "It was, um, good. We, uh, had a pretty good time. It's…too bad you couldn't make it."

Blinking a few times to make sure he heard correctly, Ranma shrugged and tried to wave it off, "Yeah well, it wasn't so bad. Some peace and quiet for a change and all." After another few moments, he added, "So what did you do during the vacation?"

Feeling that things were back to normal (or as much as can be expected around there), Akane smiled and animatedly began talking about the past few days.

A few minutes earlier…

Mara entered the dining area and noticed that the two men had already set-up the board and were pouring sake for each other from a bottle. 'Boy, they don't waste any time.' After a few seconds of watching them play, she also noticed that they were each trying to switch the pieces around after distracting their opponent. The display was rather disappointing to her. Being a demoness, the cheating itself did not bother Mara, but their methodology was rather pathetic. 'How could they possibly fall for those tricks?' They each seemed to be conned by either the most mundane of lies or the most unbelievable of ones, ranging from money to food to purple-headed dinosaurs. Of course, the way things seemed to work around here, the latter might not be as unbelievable as she first thought.

Getting tired of observing the display, Mara walked over to them and casually grabbed the sake bottle, which surprised the two martial artists. Plopping herself down next to the dining table, she drank straight from the bottle and waited for lunch to be served.

Soun uncertainly asked, "Excuse me, miss, but, aren't you a little, uh, young to be drinking sake."

Shrugging indifferently, Mara took another swig from the bottle and countered, "Yeah well, we do things differently from where I come from."

"I, uh, see," hesitantly replied Soun.

It was at this time that Nabiki entered the room. Spotting Mara, she blinked a couple of times upon noting her drinking straight from a bottle of sake. 'Okay, maybe this will be easier than I thought.' With little trouble, drunk people could sometimes be convinced to speak their deepest secrets. The more she saw how Mara was drinking, the more Nabiki had to revise her opinion. The blond was chugging the bottle like a pro and did not seem to be stopping anytime soon. Therefore, the shorthaired girl settled herself down by the dining room table as well and continued to observe the other woman.

Mara was aware that Nabiki was originally hopeful she would become drunk off her ass and spill her guts. Several swings from the bottle later and she noticed Nabiki gave up on that idea. 'You aren't gonna catch me off guard that easily, little girl.'

A couple of minutes later, both Ranma and Akane made their way into the dining room. The latter was surprised to see Mara opening drinking sake, but dismissed it as some weird gaijin custom.

Nabiki noted that Ranma did not seem surprised at all. In fact, he seemed to have expected this behavior. 'Very interesting.'

Mara wordlessly handed out the bottle toward the pigtailed boy. He nonchalantly took the offered container…and drank straight from it as well. The eyes of Akane, Soun, and Genma widened significantly at the display. Nabiki hid her own surprise and settled for merely raising an eyebrow. Not being able to resist, she commented, "Wow. That's almost like an indirect kiss. How forward of you Ranma-kun."

This created some expected reactions with Ranma choking on his drink. After banging on his chest a couple of times to clear it, he squeaked out, "W-what…!?!"

Akane also took some literal meaning to the statement. Her face began to flush with anger. Subsequently, she took out her trusty mallet from hammerspace and yelled a frequent catchphrase of hers while swinging the weapon downwards on its target, "Ranma no baka!!!"

The aforementioned person was once again acquainted with smashing into the floor. Surprisingly, Ranma did not drop the bottle.

The fathers also took this opportunity to berate the boy on his duties to Anything Goes School. "Boy, how could you betray your fiancée so? You put shame to the Saotome Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."

Utilizing his infamous 'Demonhead' attack, Soun bellowed at Ranma, "How could you betray my little girl!?!"

Suddenly, Kasumi's tranquil voice broke the tension in the room. "Lunch is ready." Both the eldest Tendo sister and Nodoka exited the kitchen with various plates. This caused both men to stop yelling at Ranma and concentrate on more pressing matters, like eating, especially with regards to Genma.

Soon everyone save Ranma, who was still imbedded into the floor, was at the table and helping themselves to the food. Mara was looking at the scene in disbelief. She then noticed that Ranma was picking himself off of the floor. Not sure of what to make of the situation, Mara simply asked, "Uh, you okay there?"

Dusting himself off with one hand and still holding the sake bottle with the other, Ranma muttered, "Yeah, yeah, just peachy." There was a touch of bitterness in his voice. Looking at the table, Ranma saw how his father was eating his portion of the food as well. "Hey pop, quit stuffing your face with my food!" Rushing to the table, the teenaged boy put the sake bottle down and began battling his father in another Saotome speed-eating contest.

While eating at a more normal pace, Mara was still amazed that someone could consume food at that rate. After seeing Ranma's father doing the same, however, the whole picture made quite a bit more sense. Surprisingly, Ranma was not even utilizing his demon-enhanced speed to beat Genma.

When the various members of the household were finishing their courses (or third courses as the case may be), Nabiki asked in an innocent tone, "So, Ranma, when did you start drinking sake?"

This froze everyone on the spot. Those who were there to witness the event forgot about the transgression when lunch was served. Nodoka was looking disapprovingly at her son. Even Kasumi's normal smile seemed a bit forced.

With everyone looking expectantly at him, Ranma began to sweat under their collective gaze. Not being able to think of an excuse, the teenaged demon could only stutter out, "Well, um, that is…"

Nearly twitching from repressed anger, Mara wanted to smack Ranma upside the head again for being so tongue-tied. 'He's going to blow our whole cover with that stupid mouth of his!' It was one thing if he could not think of a plausible lie. Sometimes that could be very hard when put on the spot for anyone. In fact, she wanted to hit herself for not thinking of an excuse for him beforehand. However, when it came to even talking in a simple conversation, the boy was a spineless wimp! A teenager who had fought as many opponents as he had, but who could not even use those skills when talking. 'That's it. He and I are gonna have a talk about this…Now what can be used a good excuse. Hmm…I guess this will have to do.'

Speaking to everyone Mara stated, "I'm afraid that would be my fault. You see, it's all part of his training. Channeling energy through normal concentration can be extremely difficult. Since alcohol lowers one's awareness of their surroundings, training while drinking makes it even easier to focus when sober." On inside she was repeating the mantra, 'Please buy it,' over and over in her mind. To her surprise, everyone did seem to take the lie, as seen by a sudden decrease in tension. Of course, if Mara knew the training regimens for techniques like the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken, Bakusai Tengetsu, or Neko-ken, then their reactions might have made more sense to her. 'Well, I didn't expect them to take it that easy…Oh well, I guess now would be a good time as any to smack some sense into him.' Standing up she walked over to Ranma and pulled him up by the ear, saying, "In fact, I think now would be as good a time as any to continue the training. Come along, Ranma."

Indignantly, Ranma screeched out, "Hey, watch it! I wasn't done eating! Ouch, careful with the ear!" His protests trailed off to the listeners of the Tendo home as they went further away towards the dojo.

Unlike the rest of the occupants, Nabiki was still fairly suspicious about the situation. She might have believed the 'explanation' if it came from Ranma's mouth. He had done some pretty outrageous things to learn some techniques. But the fact that the words came from Mara and not the pigtailed boy degraded the plausibility of truthfulness in her eyes. She might have to find Ranma later on and question him when Mara would not be around to bail him out. 'I will find out what's going on here.' Finding out people's secrets was one of her specialties after all.

Inside the dojo…

After dragging Ranma by the ear, despite his protests, in the dojo, Mara threw him onto the floor and then closed the door behind her. After whispering an incantation to prevent eavesdroppers from listening in on their conversation, Mara then stalked up to within a few feet of the younger Saotome. "Okay, you moron, we're going to get a couple of things straight here!"

Rubbing his ear, Ranma irritably responded, "Would you watch it with the ear? What is your problem anyway?"

With a incredulous expression on her face, Mara asked, "My problem!?!" Her face changed to one of anger again. Scowling at Ranma, who was now standing up, she added, "My problem is that !#$ mouth of yours! With the way you talk to people, you'll end blabbing our secret to the entire district in a couple of days!"

Wary of her tone of voice, Ranma countered, "But look at before, you were able to get us out of it with no problem!"

Through clenched teeth, Mara drawled out, "And what is going to happened when I am not there for you the next time?"

Ranma opened his mouth to respond, but for the life of him, could not think on how to respond to that question in his favor. So he settled for snapping his mouth shut.

"Exactly," stated Mara in a more calm voice. "I'm not gonna be there all the time to get you out of these situations…and there will be more. But that's not even the tip of the iceberg." Her tone changing serious, she continued, "Ranma, I'll be blunt and say that the way you talk and act right now isn't going to cut it in Nifelheim." After waiting for that statement to settle in for a moment, she added, "Because of rules and regulations, demons can't simply use brute force to get what they want. So we use our wits to try and work our way up the ladder. The beings that you have seen so far probably represent the 'nicest' of us. Let me make this clear…"

Her voice became so stern and held so much authority that Ranma had no choice but to listen. "There are those who will do anything to get what they want in Nifelheim. If they find some use for you, they will manipulate you into helping them achieve their goals. To them, you are nothing but a pawn to be used and thrown away." Taking a deep breath, Mara stated plainly, "As you are now, Ranma, you simply are not going to cut it. Even if you end up as some sort of guard, there will still be someone who might find a future use for you…Martial arts isn't going to be enough to make it as a demon." She tried to subtly hint him at using some of his martial arts skills for other uses, but it seemed now the direct approach was needed.

With his head slightly bowed, Ranma contemplated Mara's words over and over in his head for the next several minutes. A couple of points stood out to him. The first one was obviously his lack of speaking ability, but Ranma already knew that about himself and was aware that it needed improvement. The second point was more prominent, that being manipulation by others. Although this was not a new revelation to Ranma as well with respect to the various people in his life, it did make him realize that demons may be able to do the same. If the situation was anything like Mara was hinting towards, Ranma was also pretty sure that the level of exploitation could be on a whole other scale than previously. With her being the demoness, Ranma decided to go along with what Mara talking about...and trust her on it. "So what do I do about it? I'm a martial artist. That's all I like and that's all I'm good at." The last part was marked with some disappointment. "I know I don't talk the best…Hell, I hear that enough, but I dunno what to do about it."

Sighing exasperatedly, Mara pointed out, "Have you forgotten what I said to you previously. You might be able to use some of those martial arts skills of yours for other uses besides hitting things." She smirked a bit at seeing Ranma wince with her last statement. "Anyway, what we really have to work on is you facial expressions. Yours is basically an open book. Practically any idiot off the street could tell whether you're telling the truth or not. Simply put, you have no poker face."

A sweatdrop rolled down Ranma's head while recalling the Gambling King incident and the lengths he had to go to conceal his expressions.

Sitting on floor and motioning for Ranma to do the same, Mara explained, "What we have to worry about now is that Nabiki girl. I can tell she doesn't believe all of, if any, of our explanation, mostly because how I have been answering all of the questions." She noted that Ranma winced again. "So, she'll probably try and speak to you alone." Tapping her chin thoughtfully, Mara pondered outloud, "Hmm…Nabiki will be able to pick up whether you lie or not through the emotions that play on your face. Since martial arts is your specialty, we need to think of a way to use them in helping you to take control of your emotions. Maybe some sort of meditation technique…"

Sweating slightly as a certain realization came to him, Ranma tentatively raised his hand, "Um, Mara?"

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Mara quizzically looked at the timid expression on Ranma's face and asked, "Yeah, Ranma?"

Swallowing, Ranma gathered his courage and stated, "Um, I think I may have an idea."

Blinking in surprise, Mara signaled for him to go on.

Scratching his head nervously, the teenage demon continued, "Uh, well, ya see, I learned this technique called the Hiryu Shoten Ha a while back. I made a couple of revisions to it since then, but in the original one ya used a person's battle aura against them in creating it."

With some impatience, Mara responded, "While this is all nice and dandy, Ranma, get to the point!"

Going back on track, Ranma continued, "Uh, yeah, anyway, to learn that technique one had to master a state of mind called the 'Soul of Ice' where…one has to eliminate all emotions from thought…" He trailed off sheepishly, not knowing what else to say.

Blinking a few times, Mara ran over what he said again in her head to make sure that she heard correctly. After doing so, she nodded to herself, leaned over, and smacked Ranma upside the head.

"Ow!" exclaimed Ranma. A moment later, he rubbed the back of his head from the stinging sensation. 'At least, that doesn't hurt nearly as much as a mallet swing,' Ranma wryly thought.

"You knew this technique for how long and never bothered to use it for situations like this!" On the inside, though, Mara was quite thrilled by this latest development since it made things so much easier. They might even be able to make significant progress today because of it. Before Ranma could even retort to her comment, Mara added, "Nevermind. Since we have a lot of time between now and dinner we'll practice until then."

With a touch of curiosity, Ranma asked, "Practice how?"

Mara's only answer was an evil grin.

Meanwhile in the house…

Lunch was over and the two eldest woman of the household were cleaning up the dishes. Soun and Genma were at their game board with a fresh bottle of sake. Akane was quietly watching television, while discretely taking quick glances at the dojo. Of course, Nabiki noticed this, but the majority of her contemplation was once again on their mysterious guest and the changes Ranma underwent, physically that is. She could understand how her family took it in stride since weird things seemed to center around him at times. The altered hair and eye color did not even make him look that different from before.

That Mara girl had a hidden agenda, though, and Nabiki could practically smell it, but she was also very good when it came to deception. From the contract papers given before, she also seemed to have access to substantial resources on her part. If Nabiki played her cards right, this whole situation might lead to something very profitable. All she had to do was wait for the right opportunities.

Hours later…

As evening was approaching, Ranma and Mara exited the dojo. The former was dejectedly dragging his feet along the ground while the latter wore a smug grin on her face. Ranma was thinking on how the training session had to have been one of the most humiliating and embarrassing ones in recent times. In order to help him maintain his focus on the Soul of Ice, Mara kept ridiculing him on almost every level, including his martial arts abilities and his manhood. On the other side of the coin, she would act…suggestive, such as leaning forward so much that a large amount of cleavage was showing…among other things. If you asked Ranma, he would say that she had too much fun in the 'training' exercises.

Still, it was quite the educational experience for Ranma. He never had really used the Soul of Ice for such an extended period of time, even when he was learning the Hiryu Shoten Ha originally or the battle at Jusendo. While using it, his mind seemed to operate differently, more calculating like a computer. Since Nabiki seemed to do something like this all of the time, Ranma's respect for the middle Tendo sister went up a notch. 'Heh, if she had any advanced martial arts training, she could probably learn the Soul of Ice pretty easily.'

Mara was also quite satisfied with the results of the impromptu training. Not only was it a blast to openly insult or utilize sex appeal under the guise of 'training,' but there were was quite a bit to show for it. Although he could not maintain the Soul of Ice forever under constant provocation, he could do so for enough time until he could get away.

As they were about to enter the house, Kasumi was just stepping out the door, wiping her hands on the apron she wore. "Oh, what perfect timing! We were just about to sit down and eat." She then went towards the kitchen to help the Saotome matriarch in bringing out the dishes.

Silently, both Mara and Ranma made their way to the table and sat down. Akane and Nabiki observed how neither of them showed the fatigue that is usually associated with training. Of course, they did not hear any loud noises coming from the dojo as well. In addition, Mara did say that her art was not physical in nature. Therefore, they both assumed that it involved some sort of meditation techniques.

Eventually, dinner was brought out, and, surprisingly, it went without a hitch, minus the usual food battle. After the meal was finished, the table was cleaned, which was subsequently followed by some relaxation through watching television. When Kasumi came back and announced that the furo water was ready for use, Ranma stood up and stated that he was going to use it first.

After fifteen minutes, Nabiki quietly rose and headed upstairs. Mara smirked from where she was sitting, already knowing what the middle Tendo sister was going to attempt. 'Boy, is she going to be in for a shock?' Chuckling to herself, Mara took another swig from a fresh sake bottle.

In the furo changing room…

'Man that felt great,' Ranma told himself. After drying off, he put on a fresh set of clothes since it was still too early to head for bed. As soon as he opened the door, a smirking Nabiki who was leaning next the exit greeted Ranma. 'Well, I guess this is it. Boy, it didn't take her long, did it?' Clearing all emotion from his being, Ranma encased his mind in a Soul of Ice like he had done so many times beforehand. "Can I help you, Nabiki?" he asked neutrally.

Blinking in surprise from the tone of Ranma's voice, Nabiki studied the pigtailed boy's face more closely. She was rather shocked to final a calm mask on it instead of the usual easy-to-read one. 'What the hell?' Nabiki asked herself. Mentally shaking herself out of her thoughts, Nabiki inquired, "Oh, I was just curious as to what you have been doing for the past few days, Ranma?"

"Repairing the dojo and training obviously," coolly replied the boy questioned.

'What is going on here? That voice was almost…eloquent.' Outloud, she asked, "Come now, Ranma-kun, you could not have been only doing those activities during the whole time. What did you do for fun?"

Still using the disturbing tone of voice, Ranma countered, "You seem to forget that training is fun for me, Nabiki."

Slightly put-off, Nabiki told herself, 'Okay, time to take out the big guns.' Stretching out her arms behind her back, certain 'assets' of Nabiki became prominent in the process. "Well, how about Mara? I was wondering what you think about her."

Seeming to contemplate her words for a moment, he then answered, "She is a good sensei."

Frowning slightly, Nabiki stated, "Actually, Ranma, I was wondering…"

Ranma interrupted her impending question, "Excuse me, Nabiki, but if you wish to get to know Mara, it would be better if you talked to her yourself." Without waiting for a reply, the pigtailed martial artist left a gaping Nabiki by the changing room. Once he went inside the guest room and closed the door, Ranma let out a huge sigh of relief and slid down onto the ground. 'It's good thing Nabiki couldn't tell my sweat from the rest of the water still on me. That was too close.' Wiping his forehead, Ranma recalled on how the Soul of Ice almost broke down with that last trick of hers. Actually, if Mara had not done a similar thing for an hour, Ranma knew he would not have lasted. In the end, though, he did succeed and Ranma could not help but smile in satisfaction because of that simple fact.

Back at the changing room door, Nabiki was still gaping and rendered speechless by what just happened a few moments ago. 'Did Ranma…beat me in a conversation!?! Ranma!?!' She was too shocked to even be angry at the moment. It was too surreal to have thought possible. Almost mechanically, Nabiki walked into the changing room and undressed. Going into the adjacent room, she scrubbed and washed herself. Only when she relaxed in the furo did her thoughts begin to fully process information again. Nabiki realized that the recent development had to obviously relate to Mara somehow. She probably was coaching him during those hours on how to build a better emotional mask or something similar to that effect. Whatever Mara and Ranma were hiding from her, it had to be big to go to such lengths.

Nabiki had to admit to herself that Mara must indeed be a good sensei like Ranma said to aid him in so little time. Of course, Ranma's own remarkable learning curve most likely had something to do with it as well. Whatever the case may be, the results spoke for themselves. The way he stood there, seemingly full of confidence and emotional control. The very thought made her stomach feel strange for some reason.

'Oh well,' Nabiki told herself as she stood up from the furo, 'tomorrow is another day.'

End Chapter 5.

Author's Notes: As you may have noticed, I got rid of specifying my chapters into seasons. It just got annoying on my part. With respect to Mara wanting to look up at Ranma's full file, you need to remember that she only got a brief summary report in the first place. Also, if anyone thinks that Ranma adapted the Soul of Ice too quickly to non-fighting aspects, remember that he had been using it for quite a long time already. All that was basically needed was a different mindset in its application. Well, I guess that is it for now. Comments and criticism would be appreciated.

-ranmafan1


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ranma ½, Ah! My Goddess, or any other trademarked/copyrighted product in this fanfiction. They were created by people a lot more imaginative than me. I am also not making any money off of this. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

Note: This story takes place after the Jusendo incident. Ranma is about to enter his junior year of high school. This story starts towards the end of the summer break.

Pursuing a New Path

by ranmafan1

Chapter 6: School Days Are Here Again

Dawn broke the horizon in the Nerima district once again. As its light eventually began to shine through the windows of Mara's bedroom, the demoness began to stir. Not wanting to get up for the moment, she turned over to her side and attempted to fall back asleep. However, that was not to be as the loud sounds of combat outside began to assault her ears. Groaning, Mara reluctantly opened her eyes and blinked the tiredness away from them. After stretching her arms, she drearily stood up and looked outside the window. Fighting in the backyard and in the air were Ranma and his father. Although she was not a fighter, Mara could tell that Ranma had the upper hand in the battle, by a large margin it seemed. There appeared to be a play of emotions running through his face, ranging from annoyance to worry.

Shrugging indifferently, Mara moved away from the window and yawned again from not being fully awake. 'Damn, I miss my coffin.' Although sleeping in a bed was a lot more comfortable to her than a futon, she still was adapting to not resting in a casket. But since she was going to be living with mortals, it was going to be a long time in coming before that would be an option again.

Groaning, Mara remembered that she would be starting school today. "Great, just great," she mumbled to herself. Here she was, a demoness first-class, and she was about to go to high school. "The Boss must really be getting a kick out of this." Not wanting to dwell anymore on the degradation she was going through for the sake of her job, Mara forced herself to start getting ready for the morning. Thinking about what to wear, Mara realized that there probably was some sort of dress code for the students. 'Screw that! There ain't no way I'm putting on a frilly little dress, fuku, or whatever the hell these adolescent girls dress in. I have a sense of style to maintain,' she thought with a smirk.

Outside…

Ducking under another punch from his father, Ranma Saotome was starting to get bored with the fight. Although the adrenaline rush was a good way to wake up for the day, he did not really need to put in a lot of effort to gain the advantage. Still, this was his first actual fight since becoming a demon and Ranma took this time to analyze differences as compared to beforehand. What the martial artist found was disturbing to him.

Although you could say a lot of things about his father, being a mediocre fighter was not one of them. Even though Ranma knew that the gap between their skill levels had gotten quite large in the past few years, he still had to put forth some effort to defeat him, especially when waking up by being thrown out the window (Ranma was internally grateful that he did not land in the koi pond this time). Genma would also occasionally win if Ranma was feeling particularly sluggish one morning. In order to make the battles more interesting, Ranma began to focus more on actually limiting the power and speed of his attacks. To the teenaged demon, it was a decent practice in control. However, where before it was a slightly arduous task to maintain a slow pace with Genma, now it was a supreme effort to simply not overpower his opponent, and this was something Ranma had been trying to avoid. By merely using superior strength and speed to defeat your foe, you give into a temptation that becomes steadily easier over time. This might be acceptable in the short run, but continuous use of this strategy would lead to degradation in pure skill, and he had worked too hard to allow that to happen.

Further reflection on the issue troubled Ranma even more. Who would actually be able to give him a decent challenge now? He imagined that Cologne and Happosai might be capable (who knows what types of tricks they have up their sleeves), but they were fickle about battling with him. The 'Lost Boy' was always good for the occasional sparring since he usually challenged his rival after training in a new technique or maneuver. However, Ryoga's biggest advantage over Ranma was his strength and endurance, but that was not the case anymore.

Without someone of equal or superior fighting ability around, Ranma knew that his own abilities would not develop as quickly as he would like. 'Dammit. What the hell am I going to do about this?' Martial arts had been integrated into his being a long time ago. Just becoming a demon was not going to stop that. 'Wait a minute.' Inspiration suddenly struck him. There had to be demons that practiced martial arts in Nifelheim. That only made sense since there were myths and legends about them and warrior gods. Not only that, but they had to have thousands of years of experience as well. The thought almost made him giddy with anticipation. If his theory turned out to be true, he would have a whole new range of sparring partners to fight against, ones on a different level, which would force him to achieve those heights.

Now that his mood had been sufficiently brightened, he immediately batted his father's pitiful attacks (at least from Ranma's perspective) away. Retaliating with his own offense, Genma found himself easily slammed into the koi pond below, while Ranma back-flipped in midair to easily land next to the Tendo home. Not even bothering to taunt his old man after winning the morning battle, Ranma walked inside.

A thoroughly drenched panda rose out of the pond with a bewildered expression on its face. 'Since when was the boy that good.' Throughout the fight, Genma could not help but notice the lack of attention Ranma was putting into it. Although he tried to take advantage of that fact, any attack put against Ranma seemed to fail. Genma refused to believe that the sudden increase in abilities were due to that Mara girl. The only reason he did not openly scoff at a woman training his son yesterday was that his wife was there, and she never took kindly to that attitude. Shrugging his panda shoulders, Genma let go of the strange occurrences since there were more important matters to attend to, namely getting hot water and food.

Meanwhile, Ranma continued his trek inside the house. As he was about to head upstairs, his mother walked up to him and called out, "Good morning, son. You seem to be in a good mood today." Internally, she was smiling in relief. Maybe he was going to take his studies more seriously this year. Her son never seemed to be that happy when it came to school days. Then Nodoka noticed and remembered his slight changes in appearance. 'Oh my, that is going to take some getting used to.'

Grinning, Ranma stated, "Yeah, mom, things seem a lot better this morning."

Nodoka beamed with pride at her son's words. "That's nice, dear. You had better start getting ready for school. Breakfast is going to be ready soon."

His smile straining with the mention of school, Ranma was still able to force out, "Uh, yeah, I'll, uh, do that." Continuing upstairs, his mood slightly diminished at the prospect of starting another year at Furinken, but Ranma knew his mother thought that schooling was important. Apparently, she assumed that his current attitude was due to actually being enthusiastic about going back. Still, Ranma decided to humor her since it made her happy.

Nodoka tended to wake up early at the Saotome home and walk to the Tendo Dojo so that she could help Kasumi make breakfast. Originally, she had planned on Ranma and Genma to move back. However, the latter was able to convince his wife that living with Akane would help prepare them for their marriage and that he had to stay to maintain the boy's skills.

'Yeah right,' Ranma added to himself. 'More like he wants to stick around so that he can play shogi and drink with Mr. Tendo.'

The Saotome matriarch agreed to the arrangement. Eventually, it became a ritual for her to stay around during the day and help Kasumi with the daily chores. In fact, except for sleeping at her home, she tended to spend most of her time around this house. Of course, Ranma and Genma did stay at their own home occasionally as well, but that was usually on some weekends.

Intermittently, Nodoka discretely requested (or is that ordered) only Genma to come back home for the night. Ranma shuddered, driving off mental pictures for her reasons.

As he reached the top, Ranma's thoughts were interrupted when seeing Mara about to go downstairs. He blinked at the demoness' attire, which consisted of a pair of jeans, white shirt, black vest, and her normal black fingerless gloves. The clothing itself did not give pause to Ranma, but how much it made her look like an effeminate man instead of a woman did. Internally shrugging off the observation (he had enough experience with crossdressers), Ranma continued towards the bathroom while briefing say, "Hey," to the demoness.

Mara just mumbled what appeared to be, "Morning," while continuing to walk down the stairs. It was then that she noticed Ranma's mother, Nodoka, staring at her with a strained smile. 'Oh she had better now get on my case about my clothes this early in the morning.'

"So, Mara-chan," began Nodoka, while the aforementioned demoness withheld a flinch at 'chan' part, "are you all set for your first day of school?" By the tone of her voice and the look in her eye, she was essentially communicating that more appropriate clothing was needed. However, being a mainly traditional woman, she was not going to say her thoughts outloud.

Sighing to herself, Mara stated, "Uh, yeah, basically." 'Damn, it is too early in them morning for this shit. Can't she just get out of my way?'

Nevertheless, the Saotome matriarch pressed onwards, "Do you need any help putting make-up on this morning? It will give us some time for discussion on the situation."

Paling slightly at mention of make-up, the main thought going through Mara's head was 'No way! Not gonna happen!' In actuality, she wanted to scream the words into the woman's face, however that probably would not turn out to be brightest thing to do to her student's mother. So, when in doubt, use Plan B, escape. "Uh, it smells like breakfast is almost ready. I think I'll, uh, go sit down now." Mara almost ran away from Nodoka towards the dining room.

After blinking a couple of times, Nodoka sighed in resignation. She did not really mean to scare the poor girl away, but the clothing Mara was wearing just screamed out to her. Like the rest of Ranma's fiancées, Mara seemed to possess a natural beauty, but that outfit did not emphasize it at all. Apparently, this Mara might be even more of a tomboy than Ranma made Akane seem to be.

Thinking more about the youngest Tendo, Nodoka sadly shook her head. Poor Akane. The girl tried so hard to do traditional wifely duties, but she has yet to have gotten a grasp at any of them. To the woman, it appeared that Akane simply put too much effort and not enough focus into anything she did. The heart might have been in the right place, but still nothing seemed to turn out okay. The one possible exception was her curry, but that in itself was not too spectacular of an accomplishment after all this time. Ranma's other two fiancées, Ukyo and Shampoo, have been excellent cooks in their own rights for years.

Now Nodoka's thoughts turned towards the okonomiyaki chef and the Chinese Amazon. Although it made her proud that Ranma could stir affections that deeply into other women's hearts, it also troubled Nodoka on how many problems those same feelings seemed to bring to her son. The numerous schemes that have been executed in attempts to win his heart were mind-boggling. It seemed, though, that the intensity of them had decreased somewhat after the failed wedding, which occurred after the infamous events at Jusendo. Even now those involved were tight-lipped about the latter incident and what had actually occurred. She had yet to have heard the full story.

Sighing again, Nodoka thought, 'And now the status quo is going to be broken again.' Every time a fiancée showed up, trouble usually followed. They had been quite fortunate that Ranma was able to get out of the arrangements through martial arts challenges. Thankfully, the involved families did not bring into question the Saotome family honor for setting-up multiple marriages to the same person. This was most likely due to the fact that many of the pacts were made for mundane things like food.

Still, the matriarch had to consider the position of their family honor despite others not officially challenging it. Her husband had done so many idiotic things over the years that at times she wondered if they had any honor left. Admittedly, when they first married, Genma was not the most honest man, but he still had some semblance of honor. Now, he was so different from the person she fell in love with.

'Genma, you fool,' sadly thought Nodoka.

"Mom?"

The hesitant voice broke through Nodoka's thoughts. Blinking a few times in returning to the real world, she noticed her son standing at the foot of the stairs, looking at her worriedly. Shaking her head to clear it, Nodoka inquired, "Yes, son?"

"Um, are you okay?" The nervousness was still present in his speech, but the concern was evident in his eyes.

'Such a good son,' she said to herself. Outloud, Nodoka spoke to Ranma, "Of course, son. Everything is fine. You should go into the dining room now. Breakfast will be ready shortly." With that said, Nodoka walked gracefully towards the kitchen to help Kasumi bring out the dishes.

Still watching his mother until she disappeared from view, Ranma's face clearly portrayed his worry for her. 'What in the world was that about?' When he walked down the stairs, he noted the spaced look and the play of emotions on her features. Ranma could not figure out what kind of thoughts would cause such distress in the woman. Still, if something was wrong, he hoped she would discuss it with him. Sighing quietly to himself, Ranma thought, 'Notin' comes easy for me, does it?'

Walking into the dining room, Ranma observed how everyone save his mother and Kasumi were already seated at the table. Apparently, Genma found hot water since he was human again. He tended to spend less time as a panda than in the past, mostly due to Nodoka insisting upon it. Ranma also saw how Akane and Nabiki were discretely glancing at Mara, or rather her outfit. It seemed that they also could tell how different the girl looked dressed that way. The demoness in question was sitting in Genma's customary spot, so it appeared that he would be sitting between her and Akane. 'Great. Just great,' he dryly told himself.

As soon as his presence was known, Ranma became aware of the shifting of their focus upon him. Seeing Akane's eyes widen in surprise for a moment, Ranma knew that she probably had forgotten about the alterations. Nabiki's calm face did not change in the slightest, although that was not saying much considering the control she had on her emotions.

After sitting down, Ranma did not have to wait long until the eldest women of the house entered into the room. Kasumi cheerfully announced, "Breakfast is ready."

As the people of the household began to eat, Akane kept glimpsing at Ranma through the corner of her eyes. Even with Mara's presence, she completely forgot of her fiancé's new look. Despite not saying anything more on the subject, Akane was still a bit disturbed by it. The one question on whether it was permanent or not kept popping into her mind, but she did not voice it, probably for not wanting to hear the answer. She also assumed that the others had similar thoughts and reasons for not bringing it up, except maybe Genma for whom food was a greater priority.

Taking a quick glance next to the other side of Ranma, Akane saw their new mystery guest. Akane did not quite know what to make of her. When she first saw Mara and Ranma in their…position (Akane had to fight down on her anger at the thought), her first assumptions were that Ranma was acting like a cheating pervert again and that this was another floozy. However, Mara did not act like Ukyo or Shampoo since she seemed to not have shown any genuine affection for him at the time. On the other hand, the two female martial artists made it perfectly clear their intent each time they glomped onto Ranma. Mara looked to have sincerely expressed that it was all a misunderstanding. It could have been a trick, but Akane did not think so. (1)

Still a little wary of Mara, she decided to try and make friends with her. Although they have had their disagreements in the past (to say the least), Akane still thought of Ukyo and Shampoo as somewhat friends, although maybe more towards the former than the latter. They had helped each other many times in the past.

And now Akane was once again examining the blond woman. Upon entering the dining room, the youngest Tendo was quite surprised by what Mara wore. It seemed that there was yet another crossdresser in town, or maybe it was a one-time thing, although Akane was not too sure. The choice in clothing seemed to also dramatically alter her looks. Of course, the same applied to Ukyo, Tsubasa, or Konatsu.

Thinking of Ukyo's dressing habits almost brought a scowl to Akane. It irritated Akane to no end that the okonomiyaki chef was thought of as the 'cute fiancée' despite wearing men's clothes (including a boy's uniform) most of the time. And here she was, the 'uncute fiancée,' who did wear female clothes, and she was still thought of as the tomboy.

Akane blinked for a few seconds and then looked at Mara for a few seconds. Although Mara and Ukyo might both dress like men, the latter at least maintained a girlish attitude, especially while around Ranma. However, Mara seemed to have a more tomboyish one. 'Does this mean…that there is…a fiancée…who is a bigger tomboy than me?!?'

Of course, Akane inadvertently admitted to herself that she was a tomboy, but her recent revelation made her too excited to realize it. In fact, Akane was so happy at the thought that she giggled outloud. Noticing that everyone's eyes were on her, Akane blushed in embarrassment and dug into her food at a faster rate.

Nabiki's own contemplation was interrupted by Akane's giggle. 'Okay that was odd.' Disregarding the incident, she returned her focus onto Mara. Ranma's new look did give her some small pause, but Nabiki shrugged it off almost immediately. If there was one thing that Nabiki learned about Ranma, it was that weird shit happened around him.

Mara had to have helped Ranma somehow. Her earlier suspicion last night seemed to be the only plausible explanation. But now the important question comes up as to why she did it. What was in it for her? Nabiki doubted that it was for only friendship, although it might have played a part in it. However, Mara did not seem like the type to do something without a bigger reason, much like herself. 'What is your game, Mara?'

Clearing her mind of the question, Nabiki got up from the table and prepared to head to school early as usual. There were still betting pools to set-up and today was probably going to be an interesting one. It always was when a new person like Mara showed up at Furinken. Besides, the answer would come to her eventually. "Well, I'm heading out now." Grabbing her bento, Nabiki strode out the door and towards the school. Despite not being a martial artist like Akane or Ranma, she tended to make it to school a lot earlier by walking at a faster pace.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family were enjoying a brief respite after breakfast. It was then that Nodoka broke the morning silence, "I think it is about time you left for school, children? You wouldn't want to be late the first day."

Each of them was given a bento by a smiling Kasumi, although Mara had to strain a smile in gratitude. 'It is too early in the morning for this,' was the demoness' repeated thought.

And so the trio were now leisurely walking along the sidewalk. Okay, two of them were walking along the sidewalk. The other was pacing on the fence nearby.

"What the heck are doing up there?" asked Mara with some annoyance in her voice.

Before the pigtailed martial artist could respond, Akane beat him to the punch. "He says it's balance practice, but it's really just him showing off."

"Heh, you're just jealous 'cause you can't do it," responded Ranma with an arrogant smirk. To emphasize his point in a rational, adult fashion, he stuck out his tongue at her.

Equally showing her maturity, Akane countered in kind by sticking out her own tongue.

Meanwhile, Mara watched the exchange with more than a touch of curiosity. Smiling mysteriously, she noted to herself, 'Well now, isn't this interesting.' Deciding that now would be as good as a time as ever to find out some more information about Furinken, Mara asked. "So, what's this school like?"

Waving his hand dismissively, Ranma stated, "Ah, notin' too special. Ya just got to watch out for your everyday random marital arts challenge, principal who throw exploding pineapples, or boken-carrying, poetry-speaking moron."

His nonchalant response caused a sweatdrop to make its way done Mara's face.

"Baka," Akane started irritably, "Not every school is like ours." That was generally an understatement, although there were a couple of other ones in the Tokyo area that had higher than normal levels of weirdness. In fact, some of the more normal schools used theirs to scare students straight, threatening to transfer them to Furinken. After spending a day at the high school, the students were more than readily agreeable. "Although Ranma does have a point. Watch out for someone named Kuno."

A little confused by their statements, Mara inquired uncertainly, "Um, what's his first name?"

Shrugging indifferently, Ranma stated, "Don't matter really. Just look out for anyone in the Kuno family…" His words trailed off into mutterings about palm trees, poetry, and annoying laughs.

"Uh, right," was all Mara could think of to say.

Eventually, the three made it to the front of Furinken High School. Looking over the building, Mara did not see anything particularly different about it. She had visited high schools in the past, mostly in an attempt to corrupt some unsuspecting student or teacher, and this one did not seem to be all that different from them. Droves of students were making their way through the front doors. As she got closer to the building, Mara noted that more and more attention was being drawn to them. Some of the students were openly staring at them, and then whispering to their neighbors. Mara was able to overhear some for the conversations.

"What happened to Saotome there?"

"Yeah, did he dye his hair or something?"

"Maybe it's another curse."

"Could be, but look at the new guy."

It was then that Mara overhead some comments that made her sweatdrop, specifically those coming from the adolescent women.

"Oh, he's so dreamy!"

"Dreamy?…well, maybe in a bishounen kind of way."

'Ah, crap!' thought Mara. She completely forgot how her normal street clothing style made her look. Taking a glance at her companions, Mara observed that they did not seem even to acknowledge the side comments. 'Probably because they tune them out.'

This was true to a certain degree. Hearing the same rumors everyday at Furinken had taught the two to simply ignore what others were saying.

As Mara began to think on how to slightly change her clothes to avoid these situations, a new voice interrupted her contemplations.

"Hold, Saotome!!!" The voice was full of arrogance and self-righteousness. Looking towards its owner, Mara spotted a teenager dressed in casual samurai-style clothing and in his one hand he carried a boken.

'This must be the moron they were talking about,' thought Mara while examining the newcomer. The demoness was debating on whether she should laugh or gag at him. She did not really need to hear anymore from him to get a good grip on his personality since she had seen similar ones many times in the past. The stance and haughtiness portrayed in his face clearly told Mara that this boy seemed to think the world revolved around him. The demoness did not really have a problem with people who had an ego, but only for those who deserved it. 'Hmph. Probably some spoiled rich brat who thinks he should get everything that he wants.'

While Mara concluded her assessment, Nabiki overlooked the proceedings. 'Well, Kuno-baby's right on time.' The betting pools were all set for the day. No one really gambled that Ranma would lose to Kuno, except for Gosunkugi who had wishing thinking. Therefore the primary bets tended to be on how long Kuno would last or if Akane would be the one to punt him into orbit. Turning her eyesight towards Mara, she noted the blond was examining Kuno and apparently finding him lacking. 'This should be interesting.'

"So, the sorcerer Saotome hath decided to once again disrupt the hollowed halls of Furinken with his foul presence. Truly, it the duty of a sworn samurai to protect his land from all evil that invades it." After raising up his boken into the air, Kuno continued, "Therefore, I must once again take up the task to cleanse this place of learning from your diabolical schemes and save my twin loves so that they may relish in my embrace. So sayeth the Blue Thunder of Furinken High." Slicing his boken down, a crash of lightning is seen in the background.

Blinking her eyes, Mara wondered where the lightning came from since she did not feel any ki, mana, or pishogue release. Looking around, she spot a diminutive ninja hiding (not successfully) in nearby bushes with lighting equipment and a boombox. Sweatdropping, Mara drawled out in her mind, 'Riigghhht.'

Going into a basic kendo stance, Kuno began to speak again, "Now, Saotome, prepare to meet thy…" The wannabe samurai trailed off as he just became aware of the changes in Ranma's appearance. One could almost hear the wheels turning in Kuno's head on trying to justify what he was seeing. If possible, the teenager's posture seemed to grow even more conceited. "What is this? Hath the illusions surroundings Saotome's true nature been thwarted. Verily, my righteous blade hath at last broken through the spells hiding the cur's form from the world, and I can see it clearly," pointing the boken directly at Ranma, Kuno proclaimed in a loud voice, "Thou art not a foul sorcerer!"

This drew gasps from all around, even Nabiki was dumbfounded by his announcement. However, before anyone could draw conclusions from it, Kuno continued, "The truth must be that thou art a demon summoned from the depths of hell." To this, the courtyard of students, save for Ranma, Akane, and Mara, facefaulted. Being too flabbergasted by his declaration, no one noticed the nervous sweatdrops formed on Ranma's and Mara's faces.

Not wasting any time to deliver his own sense of justice, Kuno charged at Ranma with his boken raised. Shaking out of his contemplation on how Kuno was actually right for once, Ranma easily evaded the first slash and the follow-up.

As the two continued to fight (or more like Ranma simply avoiding every attack), another person made her way on the scene. "Hey, Akane. So, boken boy didn't waste any time this year with Ranchan?" Turning towards the newcomer, Mara saw a girl wearing a boy's uniform and who had a large…spatula attached to her back. She easily saw how the individual was a woman with her senses.

Akane stopped watching the fight and greeted the okonomiyaki chef. "Oh, hi Ukyo. Yeah well, what else is new? Kuno doesn't seem like he'll ever get a clue. Now he's calling Ranma a demon instead of a sorcerer."

Chuckling a bit, Ukyo looked at her fiancé in action. "That's true, sugar. I guess that is once thing that will never change…" She trailed off after seeing Ranma's new hair color. Uncertainly, Ukyo asked, "Uh, Akane, what happened to Ranchan?"

Sighing, Akane responded while pointing towards the demoness, "Apparently, it's the result of some training from Mara here."

Blinking owlishly a few times, Ukyo turned her attention towards the aforementioned person. After examining her for a few moments, there was a noticeable twitch in her left eye. "So, you a new fiancée to Ranma?"

Even Mara was a little surprised a few moments by the statement. Smirking in reply, Mara responded, "Yeah. I guess you would know, being a woman yourself. So, I take it your one of Ranma's other fiancées as well?"

Raising an eyebrow in respect, Ukyo answered, "Ya got it, sugar. So, I suppose this is another one of Genma's infamous arrangements? By the way, the name's Ukyo Kuonji of the Kuonji School of Okonomiyaki Chef Martial Arts." Deciding by Mara's looks that she was a Westerner, Ukyo brought her hand out for a greeting. Ukyo determined that playing it cool for the time being would be the most prudent action. Akane did not seem to be hostile towards the girl and that was a good sign to the chef that Mara was not really interested in the arrangement. Still, she would keep a watchful eye on the latest fiancée.

Smirking in response, Mara stated. "Yeah, my parents told me to stay here until they can come and straighten things out. I'll be staying at Akane's place in the meantime. Anyway my name is Mara, Mara Demonica of the Demonica School of Energy Manipulation." Mara brought out her own hand and shook it briefly with Ukyo's.

The chef was barely able to stop another twitch in her eye at the mention of another fiancée living under the same roof as her Ranchan. In addition, Mara's mentioning that she was a martial artist of energy manipulation put her off a bit since ki attacks could be pretty dangerous. 'There'll be enough time to worry about that later.' Looking at her fiancé continuing to dodge Kuno's attacks, she commented, "It looks like Ranchan is making it last this time around."

Akane just snorted and stated, "Probably because the baka doesn't want to go into the school yet." Talking towards Ranma, she yelled out, "Ranma, finish it up already or you're going to be late!"

Absentmindedly dodging another strike, Ranma blinked and replied, "Oh, okay." Suddenly, Ranma blurred and was within Kuno's defense and striking at a multitude of openings in it. With one final snap kick, the other boy was sent flying towards a startled Gosunkugi who did not even have a chance to scream before Kuno crashed into him. As it was, the scrawny teenager was carrying a bottle of holy water with him in the hopes that it work in another one of his rituals to bring misery on Ranma. Now the bottle was sent flying out of his hands and defying the laws of physics (but obeying those of Jusenkyo) landed on the closest cursed individual.

Gasps were heard all around the schoolyard. And after many rubbing of eyes, even more gasps were made. Almost immediately, the boys started to drool at the image of perfection before them. Even several girls present who had yet to 'come out of the closet' blushed with the naughty thoughts that came to mind. Of course, these were the same young women who hoped that Akane actually did hate boys last year in favor of the fairer sex.

The reactions by those looking at the residential martial artist genius were understandable. For a long time, the students of Furinken had become used to Ranma's curse. It was just part of the normalcy of the area. Even the new freshmen that recently transferred from the local junior high were familiar with the happenings there. However, seeing such a drastic change in the curse was enough to give anyone of them pause, especially since it turned him into unquestionably the most beautiful woman in town. It was soon after the shock worn off that the gossip mill started rolling out again, particularly by the guys (at least the ones who were not still drooling).

"Look at Saotome! She's a total babe!"

"I don't think babe is enough to describe that body!"

"Yummy! Yummy!"

A couple of students looked oddly at that person who made that last comment, but he responded confusedly with, "What?"

At her spot looking outside the window, Nabiki dropped all pretense of a calm and cool exterior and simply gawked with the rest of her classmates in total bewilderment at Ranma's girl-form. Many random thoughts entered into the middle Tendo sister's mind, but they all focused around the main theme of, 'What the hell!?!' Desperately trying to overcome her shock, Nabiki focused her attention not on the youngest Saotome, but on Mara instead. Narrowing her eyes, Nabiki began to think logically once again, 'This is somehow her fault. It has to be.' Too many things had been changing in such a short time for there to be any other explanation, especially since they began with Mara's arrival. Whatever the blond was up to, Nabiki wanted to find out about it soon. These modifications in the norm were altering her understanding as well as her control of the situations, and Nabiki needed a constant awareness on the activities in Nerima.

Refocusing on Ranma-chan, Nabiki felt a twitch developing in her eyes. She was always proud of her body. Despite not being one of the elite martial artists in town, Nabiki still was able to keep in shape and maintain a figure that she believed rivaled any one of Ranma's fiancées or his girl-form. However, she was no competition towards Ranma-chan's new look. In fact, Nabiki thought that no one in Nerima, even Ms. Hinako, could compete with Ranma-chan now. Almost immediately, Nabiki squashed that line of thought. 'I am not jealous of Ranma!'

Meanwhile, the person in question hung her head in resignation. The big secret was out, well okay, the big secret of her being a demon (or demoness as Ranma was a she at the time) was not known. However, the whole school was now aware that her girl-form was insanely gorgeous. Now, she could almost feel a countdown until there would be an explosion of activity due to this revelation. It turned out not to be a very long one.

"P-pigtailed girl," stuttered a voice not too far away from Ranma-chan. This time it was filled so much affection and awe that it sent a chill down her spine. Hesitantly turning towards the owner, she saw how Tatewaki Kuno was staring at her with star-filled eyes. Once again, one could almost see how Kuno's mind was trying to wrap around this new occurrence to fit his deluded perceptions on the world. "Can it be? Have I at last broken the foul demon's spells that bonded thee to his will?" Standing up tall and proud, he proclaimed to those listening, "Yes! At last the pigtailed girl…nay mere girl cannot fully encompass the beauty that stands before me…therefore, the pigtailed goddess hath been set free from the demon Saotome's clutches!" Kuno stopped talking and simply obtained a faraway look in his eyes.

'Great. Just great. Now I'm a demon as a guy and a goddess as girl. Well at least he is half-right,' sourly thought Ranma-chan.

While Ranma was contemplating Kuno's new titles for both his forms, Mara was finding the situation pretty hilarious. 'Who would think that this deluded moron would actually correctly guess Ranma being a demon?' Not being able to stop herself from making a quip to Ranma-chan about that very fact, Mara strolled past Akane and Ukyo (who were both wide-eyed and incapable of speech at the moment) and walked towards the girl in question. As soon as she was within whispering distance, Mara leaned forward and began, "Boy, Ranma, that Kuno boy sure…"

However, Mara did not get too far into her statement before the upperclassmen regained his bearings, saw the two together, and came to a presumptuous conclusion as usual. Pulling another boken out of nowhere, he pointed the blade at Mara and demanded, "You there! How dare you be familiar with the pigtailed goddess!?! I will not allow it! Have at thee!" After his tirade, Kuno burst into action and leapt towards Mara with his boken raised.

The demoness looked dumbfounded at the charging teenager. So taken aback was Mara that Kuno's attack nearly connected, but in a burst of speed Mara was easily able to avoid it. Ranma-chan also leapt out of the way just to be on the safe side, regardless if it was not aimed at her. Initially, she was going to tackle Mara to the ground, but apparently Mara was fast enough to dodge the boken.

Seeing at how he missed his target, Kuno looked at Mara and then to his boken. "You evaded my blade…I see it now…Thou art a minion of the demon Saotome, sent to re-enslave the pigtailed goddess to his will! Very well, I shall vanquish thee in addition to thy dark master." With a wordless yell, Kuno charged towards Mara again, who, without difficulty, sidestepped every attack.

Although she was not a martial artist, Mara still had overwhelming power (to say the least) to draw upon. Thus it was child's play to move faster than Kuno's strikes. However, despite the lack of threat Kuno posed towards her, Mara was still getting annoyed with him. The demoness figured that Kuno mistook her for a man and presumed that she was a threat to him having Ranma-chan. Mara could have ended the fight immediately, but doing so might have raised more questions later than if she looked to have had some difficulty with it. 'I think that should be long enough.'

Making it appear as if she just luckily found an opening, Mara knocked his boken away and gave Kuno a quick uppercut to the chin, although she withheld almost all of her strength since she could not kill the guy. After Kuno fell down and seemingly out for the count, Mara snorted and turned her back to the guy. Apparently, she underestimated Kuno's resilience (which was due to being hit many a time by Akane and Ranma) and Kuno grabbed her from behind with a cry of, "I have thee!"

However, Kuno's victory was short-lived as his hands came into contact with two mounds of female flesh. Nearly shaking in rage, Mara cried out, "You pervert!" and subsequently backhanded him with substantial more strength than before. Of course, since Kuno had a firm grip on the Mara shirt, it tore open with the force with which he was punched. Although it was not enough to completely expose her chest to the world, a substantial amount of cleavage was still shown as proof for the audience what her actual gender was.

Just before unconsciousness overcame him, Kuno saw this as she turned hate-filled eyes upon him. Although his mind ignored the expression on her face, it still noted the blond tresses of her hair shining under the sunlight. His last thought before awareness left him was, 'An angel…a warrior angel.'

Trying to shake off her rage (and in the process not kill Kuno), Mara stomped off towards the building. Not even looking back, she nearly shouted to Ranma-chan, Akane, and Ukyo, "Let's get inside."

As the shock began to wear off, the three turned towards each other. Her eyes darkening slightly, Akane said to Ranma-chan evenly, "You have some explaining to do later." With a similar expression on her face, Ukyo looked pointedly at Ranma-chan as well. It did not take a genius to figure out that Akane was referring to the changes in the curse.

Gulping slightly, Ranma-chan hurriedly nodded her head in agreement. Silently, the three made their way into the school.

Watching the exchange below, Nabiki was still a bit overwhelmed by the morning's events. She was also cursing herself for not foreseeing how the student populace would interpret Mara's appearance. It would have made her a tidy profit if she planned things accordingly with that information. Still, you could not cry over spilled milk.

Listening to her associates and classmates gossiping again about Ranma-chan and Mara being actually a woman almost made her smile. Gossip was good in her book because it would eventually lead to people wanting answers, and, of course, they would go to her for them. Grimacing slightly, Nabiki thought on how she would not have all of the answers, however. 'All in due time, Nabiki,' she repeated to herself, 'All in due time.' With that thought in mind, Nabiki walked towards her seat since the bell was going to ring soon.

After Ranma quickly obtained some hot water, they made their way towards the classroom. Surprisingly, the group still had some time to spare until the late bell would ring. By some strange coincidence (yeah right), Mara turned out to have the same schedule and homeroom as Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo. Stepping into the room, all conversation ceased and the group was subject to the stares of their classmates. Deciding that dwelling on the looks was not doing them any good, they decided to simply take their seats. Mara took one that was empty at the time, due to Gosunkugi still being laid out on the front lawn.

Just as the bell rang, a hyperactive child with brown hair and a yellow dress skipped into the front of the class. "Good morning, class!" The students greeted their teacher in kind.

Her voice was sugary sweet and made Mara want to wretch on the spot. Blinking in realization, she thought, 'This child is our teacher!' Narrowing her eyes slightly in suspicion, Mara used her senses to look at the other's aura. What she discovered was strange. 'It's almost like a vacuum of some sort. Interesting.'

It was then that the child continued her introduction, "As you know, my name is Ms. Hinako Ninomiya and I'm going to be your homeroom teacher again this year." Most of the students silently groaned to themselves by the statement. Wagging a finger in admonishment, Ms. Hinako stated with as much authority as her child voice could carry (which was not a lot), "Principal Kuno told me that you delinquents still needed to be disciplined, especially you Ranma Saotome." Pointing towards the student in question, Hinako blinked at the hair color and unexpectedly exclaimed, "Oh! I like the hair, Mr. Saotome. It's so kawaii!" Everyone sweatdropped at that.

Regaining her composure, Hinako stated, "Anyway, we have a new student today, a…" Opening her desk drawer, she shuffled through the contents of it, taking out several bags of candy. Sweatdrops returned with a vengeance. "Here we go!" Taking out a sheet Hinako read, "a Mara Demonica! Could you please stand up here and introduce yourself to the class?"

Grumbling a bit, Mara nevertheless complied. As soon as she was in the front of the room, she simply said, "The name is Mara Demonica and I'm from Norway. I will be staying in Japan for an indeterminate amount of time."

Ms. Hinako asked her students, "Are there any questions for Ms. Demonica here?"

One male student raised his hand. "Yes?" drawled out Mara.

Gathering his courage, he inquired, "Is it true that your another one of Ranma's fiancées?"

Blinking in surprise, Mara simply stated, "Um, yes." 'How did they find out so quickly?' After a moment's thought the answer came to her. 'It must be that Nabiki girl.'

The three martial artists in the room sighed in resignation, already knowing that it was Nabiki who sold that information. In addition, rumors tended to spread at a higher-than-normal rate at Furinken as compared to other schools. Right now, the class was discussing on how Ranma got a Westerner for a fiancée this time around. They immediately shut-up when Hinako brought out a…fifty-yen coin. This confused Mara greatly.

Examining her head to toe (especially her clothing), Hinako asked bluntly, "Are you a delinquent, Ms. Demonica?"

Again, surprised by the question, Mara thought for a moment, before she smirked in reply. "That depends on your definition of delinquency, Ms. Hinako."

"Huh," replied by the child teacher in bewilderment, who did not really expect this response.

Mara elaborated, "I mean, are you referring to delinquency as compared to the rules of this school? Furinken seems to have a school policy that is substantially different than other ones in the area. Or maybe you are talking about delinquency in Japanese culture? Then again, I am from Norway, do you want me to evaluate my behavior as compared to my homeland norms? There are some general differences between the cultural values of the two places."

Hinako's face was full of confusion. In fact, one could almost see the question marks blinking around her. Although she would have been able to respond appropriately as an adult, her child mind could not wrap itself around such abstract thinking. Therefore, Hinako simply stated, "Um, you can take your seat, Ms. Demonica." After scratching her head for a moment, she gave up thinking on the subject and simply took roll call.

As Mara went back to her seat, she felt the watchful eyes of her classmates, but that did not really bother the demoness much. Folding her hands behind her head, Mara commented to herself, 'Hehehe. That was fun.'

Eventually, the bell for the first class rang and Ms. Hinako stated, "Okay, class, it's time for your first lesson in English for the year."

Many of the students groaned, but Mara simply rolled her eyes. 'This is gonna be pointless.' Fifteen minutes into the class, she was correct and bored out of her mind. Mara noticed that Ranma already fell asleep.

It was at this time that Ms. Hinako decided to voice her opinion on Ranma's lack of awareness. "Mr. Saotome!" exclaimed the teacher while throwing the piece of chalk at Ranma's head. Suddenly, his arm lashed out and caught the object without him waking up. Her eye twitching, Ms. Hinako snapped her booked shut, walked over to Ranma, and smashed it on top of his head.

Drowsily, Ranma awoke and rubbed the top of his skull in irritation. "Is it second period yet?"

Her face flushing in anger, Ms. Hinako took out her fifty-yen coin, pointed it at Ranma and yelled out, "Happö Goju-en Satsu!" (2)

The familiar phrase instantly snapped Ranma fully awake and he instinctively covered his arms over himself since it was too late to dodge. Blinking for a few moments, Ranma realized that this aura was not being absorbed. Tentatively, he peaked out and saw that Ms. Hinako was looking dumbfounded at the coin. Again, the teacher exclaimed, "Happö Goju-en Satsu!" Ranma cringed, but nothing happened. Now Hinako was shaking the coin as if it were broken.

Meanwhile, Mara witnessed the exchange and found it to be most enlightening. 'So that child uses the coin as a focus to drain auras.' Most likely then, the child was in actuality an adult with a completely messed up metabolism who used the absorbed ki to regain her adulthood. 'It certainly explains the strange aura she possesses. Now who around here would be capable of altering ki pathways in such a manner?' In any case, one thing was for sure and it was that the technique would be useless against her or Ranma since their bodies existed on pishogue and not on ki. 'It seems that Ranma is starting to realize the same thing,' she thought with a smirk.

Indeed, Ranma's mind was turning over and over on why Hinako's attack was ineffective to him. The answer came surprisingly easily, especially since his own senses were able to discern how Hinako's aura extended through the coin could not latch onto his and absorb it. In short, the energies were too different to connect with each other. 'Different energies. Of course! I use this pishogue stuff now, but Ms. Hinako's technique drains ki. That means…it's completely useless against me!' Almost giddy with the prospect of no more ki-draining, he came to another startling conclusion. 'Wait a minute! Pressure points alter ki flows. Also, the normal Hiryu Shoten Ha uses an opponent's ki against them.' Now those attacks would not work on him as well.

Of course, Ranma's only thought on how pressure point attacks were now useless against him. He neglected to take into consideration that healing ones would also be ineffective. However, as mentioned, he was too excited at the moment to think about it fully. So happy was Ranma that he decided to laugh outloud in glee. Although it was one of joy to Ranma, it sounded quite evil to everyone else. Little Hinako, being scared by the laugh and knowing that her attack was not working for some reason, used the only weapon that she had available…and so she threw the book at Ranma, who was suddenly silenced by the weight impacting his face. Composing herself, Hinako stated to Ranma while pointing at the board, "I don't know how you did that, Mr. Saotome, but it does not get you out of participating in class. Now read that sentence."

Grumbling a bit and once again rubbing his head, Ranma wearily looked at the written sentence on the board. Therefore, it came as a surprise to Ranma that he could perfectly understand the words. Scratching his head in confusion, the pigtailed demon thought, 'Is this English?' Outloud, he read the sentence, " 'Mrs. Tanaka went to the grocery store to buy some food.' Right, Hinako-sensei?"

Hinako blinked, looked at the board, and shyly answered, "Um, correct, Mr. Saotome." At this announcement, the students locked up. The collective thought was that Ranma actually got an answer right…in English…on the first try! Resolving herself, Hinako decided to see how far Ranma's knowledge went, "Okay, Mr. Saotome, try this one out." With that said, Hinako erased the one on the board and wrote something else.

'Is this some sort of joke?' thought Ranma. " 'The flight to New York was rough due to the high turbulence experienced by the plane.' "

Now chibi-Hinako was sweating slightly (which was actually a pretty funny sight) due to Ranma, the most delinquent student in the school, getting another correct answer. In fact, most of the other students in the class were in a similar predicament and having the same thoughts. "Um, right again, Mr. Saotome. How about this?"

And so for the next ten minutes, Ms. Hinako kept on writing English sentences on the board, while Ranma kept reading them off correctly.

" 'The persuasive argument by the mayor…' "

" 'Four score and seven years ago,…' "

" 'To be, or not to be: that is the question:…' "

Throughout the whole instance, Mara could barely contain her laughter. Apparently, Ranma did not realize the truth (probably from not reading it yet in the manual) that all higher levels demons and gods could intrinsically read, write, as well as speak all mortal languages. It was a necessity for them since they could at any moment need to interact with any given culture. The look on the teacher's face now was simply priceless.

Ms. Hinako was a nervous wreck at the moment. Nothing was happening as usual as compared to last year. First, her ki-draining attack does not work on Ranma and now he was seemingly a master of the English language. She needed some normalcy right now. "Mr. Saotome!" she barked out in a commanding tone, "Go to sleep!"

"Huh," replied the boy in question with some bewilderment, "But, teach, you said to…"

"Do it!" exclaimed Ms. Hinako, who suddenly raised a mallet the size of herself into the air.

Ranma eeped in surprise and put his head onto the desk to try and do as the teacher commanded.

Hinako blinked at the large mallet in her hand, wondering where it came from. Shrugging, she place the weapon onto her desk and continued with the day's lessons, "Now class, turn your books to page…"

As the students quickly complied to avoid Ms. Hinako's wrath, Mara quietly snickered to herself while thinking, 'School might not be so bad after all.'

It was now second period, and although Akane and Ukyo wanted to question Ranma on the…unusual circumstances from before, there was simply no time to do so. Besides, they could always get their answers at lunchtime.

The world history teacher Masamichi Fujisawa (who bore a striking resemblance to his namesake) entered the classroom. "Good morning, class." After they greeted him appropriately, he continued, "For the first part of this course, we are going to learn about revolutions around the world. Because my own expertise is in the area, we'll start with the American Revolution."

Yawning a bit, Mara once more set herself up for another meaningless lesson, especially if you were alive back then. Surprisingly, the roles were reversed this time with her falling asleep and Ranma being wide-awake. Just as she was about to doze off, the teacher's voice called her name, "Ms. Demonica, perhaps you could answer the question?"

A little tiredly, Mara asked, "Yeah, yeah, so what is it?"

Peeved by her attitude, he grounded out, "Can you please tell us a fact about George Washington?"

Rubbing her eyes, Mara responded, "Well, he had a sweet tooth."

Not finding the answer pleasing, "Ms. Demonica, please hold those buckets outside in the hall this minute."

Grumbling, but nonetheless complying, Mara got up and did what she was told to do. It seemed that the teacher was especially annoyed with her answer since he made her wait out in the hall for the rest of the period. Throughout the whole time, Mara occupied herself with thoughts on how to curse the man for this degradation.

Eventually, the morning classes ended and the lunch period began. Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, and Mara made their way towards a secluded tree on the front lawn. Once they were seated, Akane turned towards Ranma and demanded, "Explain."

Sweating slightly, Ranma dubiously asked, "Um, which thing?"

This time it was Ukyo that spoke, "Oh, I don't know, Ranchan, how about the fact that Ms. Hinako's attack did not work on you. Or how you seem to be fluent in English?"

Akane concluded with, "Or maybe how your cursed form is a supermodel now!?!"

As the nervousness began to escalate within him, Ranma took a deep breath and employed the Soul of Ice to calm himself down. During the rest of the morning, he had thought long about how to explain the situation. It was during one of the breaks between classes that Mara gave him a note briefly describing how he indeed knew English, among other languages. Ranma, of course, taking no chances ate the note so that no one would find it, which probably would have happened knowing his luck.

He was not all that comfortable with the concept of lying, but stretching the truth in these cases were necessary. Once Ranma felt that he had obtained his center, the pigtailed demon began his explanation, "Well, over the summer, I wanted to learn something new and without the usual messes around, I guess I actually started to pick things up quicker. English was pretty much a breeze after that." What Ranma was proud of here was that it was not really a lie. During the summer, he did want to learn something new, except he did not specify it being English, when in reality it was martial arts techniques. Also, English was technically easy after that, only he neglected to mention that it was recently.

After letting that sink in, Ranma continued, "For the Happö Goju-en Satsu and my, uh, curse, I guess that would be because of Mara's training. Almost all of her techniques revolve around energy manipulation, and learning them kinda got me to have better control of my own. I was sorta surprised I was actually able to stop her draining from me. As for the curse, um, I don't know how that changed…" He scratched his head in embarrassment. Okay, so maybe he could not fill in all of the details yet, but Ranma was still proud of what he did come up with. It really is amazing what tactical geniuses could do if they put their minds to it.

Although she did not show it on the outside, Mara was highly impressed with Ranma's explanations, especially since he did not show such aptitude towards it before. Well, Mara had her own reasoning for the curse anyway, so she might as well not let it go to waste. Ironically, it was mostly the truth, but disregarding the demonic aspect to it. "The changes in his girl-form are probably due to a stabilization in the energy field matrix that composes the curse. It basically equilibrated the fluctuations in mass and energy differentials that occur during the transformation so that both the girl-form and boy-form were more closely similar." During the whole explanation she remained perfectly professor-like to further emphasize the points.

For several minutes, the three were pondering what she had said and tried to make some sense of it. Tentatively, Ukyo summarized, "So basically, the curse changed so that the girl-form more closely resembled his normal one."

Shrugging indifferently, Mara replied, "Yeah, that's pretty much it."

Akane shook her head from the technical jargon and turned back to Ranma, "Okay, I guess that sort of makes sense, but why didn't you tell us before? Also, how could you learn a technique to block Ms. Hinako's ki-draining one so quickly? It's only been a couple of days!"

Surprisingly, it was actually Ukyo who saved the day on these ones. "Oh, lay off of Ranchan, sugar. I mean, how would you explain gently to everyone that you suddenly beat Ms. Hinako in the looks department." Wagging a finger in admonishment, she continued, "I think you also forget how fast Ranma-honey learns techniques. Remember he learned the Hiryu Shoten Ha in only a couple of days too." After speaking, she sighed in adoration to the last statement.

Picking at her food a bit, Akane replied uncertainly, "Well, I guess that makes sense."

"Great!" Ukyo exclaimed with much enthusiasm. Pulling out a grill out of nowhere (it is a Nerima martial artist trademark), she added, "So, who's up for some okonomiyaki!"

At the nurse's station…

Tatewaki Kuno once more was returning to the land of consciousness and woke up in a familiar setting. He had been there on more than one occasion, most of the time due to one of his 'loves' expressing their true feelings towards him. Turning his head, Kuno also saw that Nabiki Tendo was sitting on a nearby chair, sucking on a lollipop.

"Well, now, welcome back to the land of the living, Kuno-baby. Don't worry. I'll put dragging you up onto your weakly tab," casually stated the middle Tendo sister.

Still in a daze, but clearly remembering the events that transpired before (or at least how he wanted to remember them), Kuno asked, "Nabiki Tendo, who was that blond-haired, warrior angel?" There was definite awe in his voice.

Blinking a few times to think that question over, Nabiki suddenly smirked as everything fell into place. 'So, adding another one to your list of loves, eh Kuno-baby.' Holding out her hand, she stated, "3000 yen." After swiftly getting the money, Nabiki told him, "Her name is Mara Demonica and she is staying at our place for a while." Purposely being silent for a moment, Nabiki then added, "She is also Ranma's latest fiancée." Her smirk widened upon noticing the changes in Kuno's demeanor.

After his face paled, Kuno almost immediately switched emotions to anger. Suddenly, he stood up, as if disregarding his previous injuries completely and drew another random boken. In a thunderous voice, he proclaimed, "I shall not allow it!" Kuno then charged out of the nurses' station in search of his quarry.

Nabiki's grin never left as she flipped the bills in her hand. 'Easy money.'

In the courtyard…

Ranma and the gang were quietly enjoying their meals when the resident kendo idiot charged onto the front lawn. Searching about wildly, his eyes finally locked onto Ranma. Loudly, Kuno exclaimed for all to hear, "Never, Ranma Saotome! Never shall I accept your engagement to the warrior angel!"

Turning over his comment a couple of times in their brains, the collective reply that they could only think of was, "Huh?"

Looking at Mara with tears in his eyes, Kuno declared to her, "Oh, my warrior angel, I see it now that the demon Saotome hath placed an illusion onto thee before so that I may by chance strike down thy beauty. For his twisted heart shall not let thee exist if he could not claim it for himself. O' cruel fate, why dost thou allow the wretched villain to bind my three loves to his service. It must be destiny that I alone can see his true nefariousness and am given the power to free them."

Having heard enough of his rambling, Ranma flipped to his feet and cracked his knuckles in preparation for the fight. "Man, Kuno, I think every time you talk, you become loonier than the last time. Well, I…" Ranma suddenly trailed as he felt a rather large energy spike next to him. Slowly looking over, he saw Mara staring at Kuno with glowing red eyes. Her slash marks were also shining brightly, but only Ranma could see that. Gradually, the demon backed off away from her and motioned for his companions to do the same.

Mara was angry, no she was pissed off, to say the least. This moron had the nerve to attack her before for no reason. Then he went off and grabbed her chest (it was a different situation when Ranma accidentally did it). Now this samurai wannabe had the audacity to name her as his love and describe her as a warrior angel! An angel! 'Oh, this guy is so going down!' Gathering pishogue into her hands, she interrupted Kuno's speech with a loud, "Shut up!!!" followed by a subsequent blast of black lightning from her hand. Kuno did not even have a chance to 'eep' before the bolt hit and knocked him into orbit. Mara had the restraint for the energy attack not to kill Kuno, but he would not be getting up anytime soon.

Sitting back down, Mara let out a sigh of relief, "Man that felt good." Holding out her plate, she asked the chef, "Can I have seconds?"

Ukyo hastily nodded an affirmative and started whipping out another okonomiyaki.

It was later in the day that Mara was becoming bored out of her mind again. For the demoness was in a class that she detested even back in her real school days, Physical Education. Mara hated the whole concept of it, especially since the only sport that she was good at was table tennis. Right now, the girls were playing softball and the guys were on the track and field course.

Suddenly, the coach called her name, "Ms. Demonica, you're up!"

Sighing, Mara stood up, grabbed a bat and walked over to the plate. Akane was at the pitcher's mound. After winding up the pitch, the youngest Tendo threw a fastball. Nonchalantly, Mara swung and the ball connected with the bat. Those in the outfield looked up and prepared to make a catch…only to find the ball going up, up, and further up until it was flying outside the Furinken grounds. Slowly, they turned their heads to look dumbly at Mara.

The demoness did not even bother walking around the bases. Instead, she opted to take her previous seat, while thinking, 'Boring. Boring. Boring."

Over at the track and field course, the guys were one-by-one going through their normal routines. They tended not to have competitions among themselves since whose team had Ranma on it always won in the end (he would not accept defeat even if he had to do all the work himself). Right now it was the demon's turn and, as usual, he was doing everything flawlessly.

In the meantime, two of Ranma's school friends, Hiroshi and Daisuke, were conversing with the other boys.

"I'm telling you guys, I don't think it's such a great idea," commented Hiroshi.

Daisuke backed-up his pal, "I have to agree with 'Roshi here." Shaking his head, he continued, "I don't know what you were thinking there, rigging the showers to only use cold water. You do remember what happened to Tomo, right?"

The boys collectively cringed in recall. Once Ranma's curse was first discovered, one of their past classmates named Tomo threw a bucket of cold water onto Ranma while he was changing in the locker room to get a peak at Ranma-chan. The martial artist did not take too kindly to it and made an example out of the boy. Sure, no permanent injury was inflicted onto him, but Tomo was never able to look at a plunger the same again.

Resolving himself, Udo (another meaningless random character) argued back to the two, "Look, Ranma isn't even going to find out. I mean, it'll seem just like a plumbing problem. Besides, you saw how his cursed form looked before. Can you honestly tell me that you don't want to see her naked?"

If they had thought logically, both Hiroshi and Daisuke would have realized that Ranma was not really stupid and would figure out the truth of the matter quite easily.

"You have a point there," quickly amended Daisuke.

"True. True," nodded Hiroshi in agreement.

Of course, teenage hormones threw logic out the window.

As the class ended and the respective groups went to their shower rooms, the guys acted as casual as they could so as not to alert suspicion. However, as Ranma entered the room, his danger sense went off for some reason. It was not on the 'you are about to be attacked scale' but it was still going off nonetheless. Scanning around warily, Ranma noted that whenever he looked at a guy, he would avoid his gaze. Some even had the stupidity to try and whistle innocently. Once Ranma saw a similar reaction from everyone present, he developed a slight twitch in his eye.

Walking over to the stalls without bothering to undress, Ranma turned on the hot water. Several of the students gulped in apprehension, but why they did not run for their lives could be anyone's guess. After waiting long enough for the water to heat-up if it did start out cold, Ranma put his hand under it. Sure enough, the familiar change overtook him. Yup, her suspicion was right. They messed with the plumbing. 'Maybe it time for a refresher course,' Ranma-chan thought to herself. The tick in her eye became noticeable now and she slowly turned towards the rest of her male classmates. The aforementioned teenagers were huddled together and whimpering in fear at the figure standing before them.

Their screams echoed throughout the grounds of Furinken. Although their punishment was not as severe as Tomo's was (most likely because they did not actually see anything), those male students present would not used bars of soap for a while. In fact, the local stores were going to have a large increase in sales of the liquid dispenser varieties for months to come.

After school, Ranma, Akane, and Mara made their way back to the Tendo Dojo. Ukyo said goodbye to them and headed to Ucchan's. Rumors were flying around as to what actually happened in the shower room, but nothing could be confirmed. Akane would have asked Ranma directly, but that dark glint in his eyes was simply disturbing. All she could make out from his mutterings were something about perverts and soap. 'On second thought, I don't think I really want to know,' Akane told herself.

Eventually, the group made its way home and went in with a collective, "Tadaima!" Upon entering they saw Genma Saotome with an ice pack on his head. When asked what had happened, Genma stated that he was outside when out of nowhere a softball hit him (there is some justice in the world), to which Akane sweatdropped while Mara simply chuckled. Ranma was just plain confused. Soon, the teenagers (including one pretending to be a teenager) worked on their homework, although Mara finished it rather quickly for obvious reasons. She settled herself down to watch some television until the food was ready.

After dinner was served, everyone broke up to do their separate things. Mara returned to watching television, while Nabiki went upstairs to check her financial books. Soun and Genma played yet another game of shogi. Kasumi and Nodoka were cleaning up while amicably talking to one another. Finally, Ranma and Akane were sparring in the dojo, which mostly consisted of the former avoiding every one of the latter's attacks.

As most of the residents were getting ready to sleep, Mara was relaxing in the furo. The day had been…unusual to say the least. 'Well, at least I got past the first hurdle so far.' A lot of questions were asked, specifically those related to the changes in Ranma, and they seemed to have gotten out of it okay. The main source of her frustrations for the day was that Kuno boy. Instead of just blasting him unconscious, Mara now felt that she should have broken both his arms and legs just to be on the safe side. 'Okay that's enough of that thinking,' Mara berated herself, 'Now is the time to relax.' Sighing, the demoness closed her eyes and sank deeper into the water, tuning out the world from her mind. So lost with the outside world was Mara that she did not hear or notice any other noises.

Nabiki cracked the door open slightly, just enough to see if Mara would be aware of her presence. Seeing the blond had her eyes closed, she thought, 'Perfect!' After sliding the entry open even more, Nabiki took out her camera and started to take pictures. It was times like these that she was thankful for buying the silent model, where all of the motorized parts were barely audible.

The middle Tendo sister was originally unsure as to whether or not she should take photos of Mara to sell to Kuno. She had heard of what happened to him afterwards. However, Nabiki then thought that whatever Mara did not know would not hurt her (Nabiki). In addition, the sweet siren's song of money overwrote her normal thinking processes.

It would seem that teenage hormones were not the only thing that could overcome rationality. Greed seemed to be a good substitute as well.

Taking pictures of Ranma were a given, especially with how he looked now. The pigtailed teenager slept like a log and provocative pictures could be set-up during the night. However, Nabiki did not know about Mara's sleeping habits. For all she knew, Mara might actually be even more alert during her sleep. One could never know with these martial artists. Therefore, it was a much safer bet to do it now, where she would get even more worthwhile pictures. Besides, all of Nabiki's pictures were relatively clean despite some rumors to the contrary. The reason for this was that she did not want to risk any possible future legal ramifications. Even here, Mara's chest was not clearly visible being submerged under water.

Satisfied with her work, Nabiki silently closed the door and tiptoed away back to her room. She would have to get the pictures developed at an hour photo shop tomorrow.

The next morning came and everyone got ready for the day. Mara dressed in clothes that, while similar in style to beforehand, definitely showed her female attributes so as not to make the same confusion. When Akane questioned Kasumi about Nabiki's whereabouts, the eldest sister explained to her that Nabiki said she had some errands to do this morning and left early. Soon after, breakfast was served and the trio once more was on their way to school.

Much to their delight, Kuno was not around that morning to harass them. Homeroom came and went without an incident. When it was time for English, Ms. Hinako insisted that Ranma sleep through it, for which he easily complied. During second period, Mr. Fujisawa gave Mara detention for saying that Napolean Bonaparte liked to play board games. It was around this time that Kuno, covered from head to toe in bandages, limped his way into Nabiki's classroom at the end of the period. As everyone filed out of the room while avoiding anywhere near Kuno, the injured kendoist hobbled over towards Nabiki.

Putting on as much authority into his voice as he could, Kuno inquired, "Nabiki Tendo, can you tell me where the villain Saotome is now?"

Grinning, Nabiki pulled out a set of photos from her satchel. "Of course, I can, Kuno-baby, for the normal price. However, before I do, I think that you would find these very interesting." Placing the pictures on her desk, Nabiki noted with some satisfaction on how Kuno desperately grabbed them and soon was drooling at the shots of her sister in the dojo, Ranma-chan sleeping, and Mara in the furo. Holding out her hand, Nabiki stated in a business tone, "That will be 10,000 yen for the set." Blinking, the Tendo sister saw that Kuno was still in a trance while looking at the pictures. Sighing, Nabiki thought tiredly, 'This could take a while. I really should just ask for money upfront for the photos.'

During lunchtime, Ranma, Mara, Akane, and Ukyo were sitting by the same place as yesterday. The demoness was noticeably irritated about the detention she had gotten earlier.

"Well, what did you expect, sugar? I mean I get a kick out of what you say, but I don't think that the teacher has the same sense of humor," commented Ukyo while flipping another okonomiyaki.

It was then that the students of Furinken heard a familiar laugh. "Ohohohohohohoho!" While everyone else equated it with the Black Rose of St. Herbeke, one individual thought it was someone completely different.

So great was Mara's shock at hearing that laugh, she did not even think before suddenly standing up and shouting, "Urd!" 'It can't be! How did she find out I was here!' Therefore, it was a great surprise, mixed in with relief, when Mara discovered the owner's voice was not Urd, but a black-haired girl wearing a Catholic School uniform.

Folding her hands under her chin, Kodachi stated dramatically, "Oh, Ranma-sama, it is such a glorious day that I felt the need to bask in your embrace once more. I…" She broke off her speech when noticing the changes in Ranma. "Oh, my darling, I just love what you have done to your hair! It is so devilishly handsome." To this, everyone sweatdropped, especially Ranma and Mara. Sighing theatrically, Kodachi added, "But first…" She then ripped off her uniform, revealing a gymnastics outfit underneath it. After twirling around a ribbon a few times, Kodachi spoke directly to Mara, "You there, peasant, how is that you know Urd-sensei? Speak now, for you are in the presence of Kodachi, the Black Rose of St. Herbeke."

'Urd-sensei?' dumbly thought Mara. It was then that the peasant-part seeped into her brain, making Mara's eye twitch in irritation. Deciding to humor the girl for the moment, she replied, "Well, that laugh did sound familiar. However, maybe we don't know the same Urd."

Laughing a bit, Kodachi replied in her normal, haughty tone, "That is most likely the case since a woman of such refinement and beauty would not associate herself with the likes of a commoner like you."

Those words actually hurt Mara on so many levels that she barely was able to withhold her anger from vaporizing the girl in front of her. Instead, she grated out, "So, how do the Urd for which you are referring?"

Sniffing disdainfully, Kodachi replied, "As if you are worthy to know any my history. Nonetheless I will relate the story since my dearest Ranma-sama should hear it, for Urd-sensei was the one woman who had taught me how to show proper affection for my love."

Many sweatdrops were on people's foreheads, imagining the person in question that helped Kodachi became the person she was today.

Flashback (as told from how things actually happened)…

A chibi-Kodachi is sniffling on the sidewalk. She had a little crush on a boy in her class, but upon expressing it to him, he just told her that girls were icky and ran off. Now she was depressed from the rejection and did not know what to do. Therefore, Kodachi decided to take a walk and think about things. And so here she was.

Hearing some yelling to the side, Kodachi saw a bickering couple who were sitting on a stonewall. After a couple of minutes of arguing, the two turned their backs to each other. Unnoticed by them (although it was clearly visible to the little girl), a platinum-haired woman with tanned skin rose from the bushes behind the pair and took out an eyedropper. After squirting a couple of drops of some liquid into their drinks, she quickly hid back into the bushes. The couple grabbed their beverages and almost simultaneously took a swing from them. Then they looked into each other's eyes. To little Kodachi's surprise, the resentment that existed between them was almost instantly swept away. The two fell into an embrace and kissed. After a few minutes, the couple left, holding each other's hands.

Afterwards, the woman from the bushes stood up and brushed out her clothes. Holding up a vial, she proclaimed, "Urd's special love potion always does the trick. Oh, Urd, you are such a genius! Ohohohohohho!"

Urd's self-congratulations were cut short when she felt a shy tugging on her pant leg. Looking down, she noted a small girl looking at her expectedly. "Um, what is it, little one?"

Twirling her foot into the ground, Kodachi timidly said, "That was very nice what you did for them back there."

Urd looked at the vial in her hand and back at Kodachi. Sweating slightly (although it was unnoticed by Kodachi), the goddess tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. "Oh, this, well, um, it…just helped them to realize their true feelings for each other…yeah, that's, uh, it." Urd looked back and forth, trying to find a means of escape. In fact, she was so caught up in looking for a television that Urd barely registered the next question that Kodachi asked.

After listening attentively to Urd, Kodachi asked in a small voice, "So, you can use stuff like that to help get someone to like you?"

Urd, who did not hear the 'like that' part, thought that Kodachi was referring to things like love letters and not potions. Therefore, she responded appropriately, "Uh, yeah, sure, kiddo. Well, the lesson is over for the day. I have to get going now. Maybe we will see each other later." Not waiting to hear a reply, Urd ran over towards a local television store that she spotted.

Meanwhile, Kodachi was considering what the woman named Urd said. Her child mind believed that what Urd put into their drinks was medicine since it came from similar containers. 'Mommy says that plants can make medicine and mommy knows about them.' And thus Kodachi resolved herself to learn botany from her mother.

Looking towards the store where the woman disappeared into, chibi-Kodachi sighed in adoration and thought, 'I'll make you proud, Urd-sensei!'

End flashback.

The sweatdrops increased on everyone's heads after listening to the story. Of course, they were hearing it from Kodachi's perspective and not Urd's, so the mental images conjured in their minds were quite distorted. Basically, the Black Rose described Urd as perfection who sought Kodachi out personally to teach her the ways on how to woo her destined. Those who knew the Kuno family better than most believed that like her brother, she rewrote history to match her personal views at the moment.

Shaking her head out of her revelry, Kodachi stated factually to Mara, "And so now you know why someone such as yourself could not possibly be familiar with the Urd-sensei that I know? Such a noble woman seeking to guide those children meant for greatness would not associate with the likes of yourself."

The twitch in her eye becoming greater, Mara sarcastically thought, 'Yeah right, and I'm sure that there are plenty of people named Urd who have that particular laugh.'

Kodachi turned towards her darling again, "Ranma-sama, let us leave these grounds at once so that we may dine on more exquisite delicacies rather than the paltry food available here."

This time it was Ukyo who had the tick in her eye. " 'Paltry food?' " she repeated while preparing to take out her battle spatula.

Now a familiar bell ringing caused Ranma to hang his head in resignation. 'Just when you think it can't get any worse.'

"Nihao!" As was expected, the Chinese Amazon Shampoo rode in on her bicycle with a ramen box in hand. Surprisingly, she did not land on Ranma's head this time. Jumping off her transportation, she bounded over to her beloved, "Hello, Airen! Shampoo bring ramen for lunch."

Before Ranma could even get a word in, Kodachi bet him to the punch, "You Amazon hussy! Ranma-sama was about to agree in dining with me."

Narrowing her eyes at the girl, Shampoo replied, "Stupid Rose Girl, Airen would rather spend time with proper wife than…" The Amazon trailed off as she noticed the new girl. If possible, Shampoo's eyes narrowed even further as a suspicion came to her. "Who you?"

Once more, Ranma tried to talk and say that she was just a friend, but Mara interrupted again. "Mara Demonica…Ranma's fiancée" 'As if I would hide that bit of information from these little girls.'

The Black Rose exclaimed in disbelief, "What!!! Another harridan has come for the affections of my Ranma-sama! I shall not allow it!" Twirling around her ribbon, Kodachi prepared to inflict damage upon Mara, when Shampoo block her path with one arm.

Turning towards the latest fiancée, Shampoo stated coolly, "This deal. You make challenge to Ranma for engagement. If he win, you go home. Is good, yes?"

This time it was Mara's turn to narrow her own eyes. "I'm afraid that is not possible since I need to wait for my parents to come and get this straightened out. In the meantime, I will be staying at the Tendo Dojo." The last part was not necessary to be said, but Mara wanted to shove something into their faces.

Silently simmering in anger, Shampoo brought out her bonbori and prepared to attack the girl, "Then you fight with Shampoo."

"For once I agree with the Amazon. More interlopers are not needed between Ranma-sama and myself." As Kodachi was about to strike at Mara as well, Ranma jumped between the demoness and them.

"Okay, that's enough. You heard Mara. We just need to wait until her parents come and everything will be settled then." Truth be told, Ranma was not afraid for Mara's safety at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite since he was more concerned with Shampoo's and Kodachi's. The murderous glint in Mara's eyes and the black lightning crackling along her fists gave him an indication that the two were about to be beaten severely. Unless she was hiding it well, Ranma wondered how Shampoo's danger sense did not seem to be going off at it. Kodachi he could understand, but not Shampoo.

After looking back and forth between the two, Shampoo slowly nodded her head. "Very well, Airen. Shampoo wait…for now." Putting her weapons away, she took the ramen box, got onto her bicycle, and sped away.

Coming to a similar conclusion, Kodachi straightened up to her full height and stated, "I suppose that I can wait to deliver my punishment for a later date. Fair well, my darling! Ohohohohoho!" The gymnast bounded away as well.

Ranma wiped the sweat collecting on his forehead. Looking cautiously behind him, he observed with some relief that Mara seemed to have gotten a better control of her anger with the absence of the time. 'Well, there's one disaster averted.'

Down the street, Shampoo finally let down the mask she was wearing. 'In the face of an enemy, an Amazon shows no fear,' the purple-haired martial artist thought to herself. But in front of that woman, it was extremely difficult to do. Something in those eyes…was just not right. If it did come down to a fight, Shampoo did not look forward to that day. Not at all.

Back at the courtyard, things have settled down again and everyone returned to eating. When questioned about who this Urd person was, Mara was tight-lipped about it and gave some runaround answers, basically saying that the person was just someone she met a while ago. The demoness was now considering Kodachi's story in greater detail. Obviously, the 'Black Rose' thought of things differently than how they actually went. Mara had been…acquaintances with Urd for a long time now and the demoness knew that the goddess would not openly encourage little girls to drug people. Still, Urd inadvertently affected Kodachi's development. 'I wonder how many other lives you screwed up, Urd?'

At a certain temple…

The goddess of the past and self-proclaimed cupid of love Urd suddenly sneezed while sitting on the couch. She was currently engaging in one of her favorite pastimes (besides interfering with others' romances) and that was watching soap operas. Rubbing at her nose a bit, Urd thought, 'Hmm…someone must be talking about me.'

Even though Urd found the drama being portrayed on television to be fascinating, the goddess was still bored out of her mind. A few days ago, she and her sisters felt several releases of demonic energy in a district called Nerima. Upon their first detection, they were about to teleport and investigate when Kami-sama called them directly. He stated that they were not to interfere with that area for the time being, which disturbed the goddesses slightly. Usually, any sort of demonic activity meant trouble and it was their job to keep it in check. However, He was the boss and thus they stayed home.

Tracking down the demon responsible for the energy would have been a good break from the recent monotony of events for Urd. Meddling with Keiichi and Belldandy's developing relationship was always fun, but they seemed to need her prodding less and less nowadays.

Urd decided that what she needed was another love challenge. Perhaps finding a couple who were so in love, but refused to acknowledge it. Even better would be a love triangle, square, or some other polygon that needed to be untangled. Oh how great that would be! 'But where could I find such complicated relationship in Japan?'

At a particular schoolyard, a pigtailed demon sneezed. In addition, a certain manager of the Hinata Inn and another teenager living with various aliens in another temple sneezed as well.

Back at Furinken…

Time flashed forward now towards the end of the school day for Mara. She had just come out of detention and was not in a happy mood. In fact, Mara was reaching a breaking point from all of nuisances of the past couple of days. The perverted moron Kuno, the teacher Masamichi Fujisawa, the insane gymnast Kodachi, and the Amazon Shampoo. Mara so wanted to teach them all a lesson that they would never forget, and she was not referring to merely bashing their heads into the pavements. However, Mara also realized that discretion was needed in her current assignment. Punting and blasting Kuno into the atmosphere seemed to be commonplace around here, but other methods of punishment might bring too much attention to herself.

'Boy, do I need a nice long soak in that furo,' Mara thought to herself in bliss. But her tranquil moment was interrupted by one voice that she did not want to hear now.

"Ah, my warrior angel, at last we are alone together! Perhaps the demon's hold on thee is waning and thou sought my embrace to forever break it."

Scowling, Mara turned around…and smirked at seeing him so heavily bandaged. "You don't look so good, Kuno. Why don't you just walk away before I make it even worse?"

Unfazed, Kuno continued limping towards Mara and spoke, "Your concern is appreciated, my love. My heart knows that thy hands inflicted these grievous injures only while under the control of the demon Saotome."

Disgusted with the man in front of him, Mara clarified, "You really are a moron, aren't you? Can't you get it through your thick skull? I don't love you. I don't even like you, so just go away before I give you even more 'grievous injuries.' "

Soon Kuno was within a couple of feet of Mara. Undaunted by her words, Kuno prattled on, "It would seem that Saotome's spell can hold thee under his control to great distances. Nonetheless, it must be weakened in his absence. Like legends of old, a kiss from your samurai should break the curse. Come, let our lips touch in unbridled passion." As soon as Kuno started to lower his face towards Mara, it met an incoming fist. The force of the punch caused Kuno to not only fly down, but also allowed a certain group of pictures to be drop out of his samurai garb.

Curious, Mara picked up the photos and sorted through them. 'Pictures of Akane practicing. Pictures of Ranma-chan sleeping. Hmm…these must have been taken recently because they are of her new cursed form. And pictures of…' Suddenly, Mara's blood start to near boil in anger. Of course, anger would be only the correct term if it could metaphorically describe a volcano about to erupt and causing widespread chaos to the populace below.

"Where did you get these?" The cool, deadly tone of Mara's voice would have sent the bravest of real samurai running for hills.

However, Kuno, who was not a real samurai, was also not a very observant fellow. Therefore, he stated casually, "Do not worry, my love. They are but mere portraits that I had obtained from the mercenary Nabiki Tendo so that I may…" The rest of his speech was cutoff as Mara kicked the fool in the head, making him unconscious again.

"Nabiki Tendo, eh?" whispered the demoness, whose voice was pure ice. She did not need to hear any more of the idiot's ranting since he had confirmed her suspicion.

While Mara was ice on the outside, her mind was a blazing inferno on the inside. 'I have had it! I HAVE HAD IT!' Those little mortals dared to treat her, Mara, demoness first-class unlimited, in such a manner! The hell with discretion!

Looking down at the photos, they combusted instantly upon contact with the black fire that ignited in her hand. "Oh they'll pay, alright," she whispered to no one in general. "They will pay."

An ominous chill went through the spines of several people in Nerima.

End Chapter 6.

Author's Notes:

(1) Yes, Akane is overestimating her observation skills.

(2) The "Happö Goju-en Satsu" is the more powerful version of the "Happö Go-en Satsu". In this one, Hinako uses a fifty-yen coin and can drain ki without a person actually having to project a battle aura. Remember that a normal person can produce a battle aura when angry just like a martial artist. However, it is so weak that it does not become visible.

Wow, the longest chapter to date. As I was writing this one, I had thought of splitting it into two sections, but then reconsidered it since that only interrupts the story flow. I also added the Urd cameo to give an explanation as to why the goddesses are not making their appearance yet. There are going to be a lot more interactions between Ranma, Mara, Akane and the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew before that happens. Well, I guess that is it for now. Comments and criticism would be appreciated.

-ranmafan1


	8. Chapter 7, Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ranma ½, Ah! My Goddess, or any other trademarked/copyrighted product in this fanfiction. They were created by people a lot more imaginative than me. I am also not making any money off of this. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

Note: This story takes place after the Jusendo incident. Ranma is about to enter his junior year of high school. This story starts towards the end of the summer break.

Pursuing a New Path

by ranmafan1

In honor of the new Ah! My Goddess TV anime being broadcasted…

Chapter 7, Part 1: Poetic Injustice

There are fundamental situations that people want to avoid if they value their health. One of them is jumping off a building. Another would be staying in a furo and dropping a live toaster oven into it. Perhaps truly pissing off a demoness first class should be added to that list.

Mara was angry. Well, maybe angry is not strong enough of a word to use. To say the demoness was merely angry would be the same as comparing a hurricane to being just windy weather. Now one has to imagine why Mara is so upset right now. Sure she had been humiliated and frowned down upon recently, but when 'interacting' with the goddesses in the past the same had happened to her before. The question now was what made this situation different than all of those other times.

Perhaps the answer lies in the simple truth that it was deities who had embarrassed her in those instances. 'Damn them! These mortals think they can talk to me, a demoness first class like that!' Of course, Mara was conveniently forgetting how Keiichi was helpful to the goddesses in foiling her plans as well. It seems that demons and gods are just as prone to selective memories as mortals are. Another explanation could be that it resulted from a breaking point from all of the stress of repeated failures for the past several years. Or maybe there was just something about Nerima that eventually made powerful people want to beat someone up.

Regardless of the reasoning, the truth was that Mara was angry, and she needed to vent that hatred in the worst possible way. In fact, she was doing exactly some of that at the moment by occasionally blasting Kuno's unconscious body with a bolt of black lightning. Although the power of each blast was not enough to kill him, the wannabe samurai was certainly going to feel it in the morning (and maybe several mornings after that as well).

After settling down (it was amazing how cathartic beating up Kuno could be), the demoness began to consider her options in handling certain members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew in addition to that annoying history teacher. The major problem Mara could foresee in any plans for revenge was the need for discretion. Although in her initial rage she desired to neglect such things, now that Mara was calmer the demoness understood that any punishment inflicted by Hild would was not worth the risk of blowing her cover.

Sitting on the ledge of Furinken's roof, Mara contemplated on how she could get her revenge without letting out the fact she was a demoness. One thing in her favor was the apparent weirdness that surrounded the area could be blamed for some of her plots. However, non-subtle curses like, for example, turning Nabiki into a camera, might push the boundaries of everyday Nerima activities. Mara could not help but smile at the thought since it reminded her of the time she turned that Megumi girl into a car. 'Hmm…for Nabiki I could anonymously post obscene pictures of her throughout the school, but that too simple for a demoness of my caliber. Irony is the key to all of the best curses.' Reflecting on that last thought, Mara could not help but chuckle. 'It's surprising how people in this town don't seem to realize the irony in those Jusenkyo curses.'

Another problem Mara realized was on Ranma's involvement. Originally, she considered bringing him in on the fun (it would be good training), but the demoness quickly discarded that line of thought. Although Ranma had ascended into a demon, it did not necessarily change his personality. 'I don't get how he can put up with these people and not break?' Therefore, Mara was faced with the predicament that any ploy of hers might be either detected by his senses or by just putting two and two together. Spells could be camouflaged easily enough, but Ranma (or for that matter anyone with enough common sense) would be suspicious of her for a drastically increased amount of strangeness with her recent arrival.

Leaning an elbow on her knee, Mara cupped her chin and thought, 'The key then is to involve details of their lives so that people won't blame it on me.' After a few moments of contemplation, she added, 'Well, those Kuno siblings won't be too hard. Those two are nuts enough that everyone would think its normal for them. The others are gonna be harder, though.' When no immediate ideas began to form, Mara sighed and decided to head on home. Although Kasumi reminded Mara of Belldandy too much for comfort, she had to admit that the eldest Tendo could make a good meal with Ranma's mother. Jumping off the rooftop, the demoness floated towards the ground. After landing, Mara began her trek home, although as an afterthought she turned around and blasted Kuno one more time just for the hell of it.

Before exiting the gates, Mara considered, 'Maybe I'll get inspired tomorrow' (yes that was foreshadowing).

At the Nekohaten…

Shampoo was becoming increasingly concerned over the events of the past day. Things had started off normally, meaning that there were many a time when she either splashed or beaten Mousse over his unwanted attention towards her. However, the status quo began to rapidly deteriorate when Ranma had landed by the Nekohaten. Suffice it to say, Shampoo was shocked by the changes in his appearance, although she was able to cover the majority of it from her beloved.

The next major twist came about upon meeting Mara. Although having a new fiancée appear was not different from the norm, the girl in question seemed to defy the standards for the typical one. From her peripheral vision, Shampoo was also aware enough to notice the dark lightning crackling along the Mara's hands, but what concerned the Amazon girl the most was the look in the new girl's eyes. Shampoo had to resist shivering again upon remembrance. The hatred in those eyes seemed too natural for the purple-haired warrior's tastes.

And finally, Shampoo had yet another surprise for the day. Ever since her great-grandmother had seen Ranma this morning, she had been uncharacteristically quiet. She was not even cooking the ramen noodles herself, but had told 'Mr. Part-time' to do it. Afterwards, Cologne had just been sitting on the counter with her eyes closed and in seeming meditation. The sight of a motionless three-hundred year old woman did not help the crowd's appetites at all.

Therefore, Shampoo continued to take orders, serve the customers, and beat up Mousse to pass the time. It was after the last of the patrons left and when Mousse went in the back storeroom that Cologne finally spoke, "What troubles you today, Great-granddaughter? You have seemed quite nervous all day."

Shampoo was barely able to stop herself from jumping in surprise. 'It would figure that Great-grandmother would be able sense my emotions without opening her eyes.' Sighing in resignation, the Amazon girl simply nodded.

Hopping down of the counter and onto her cane (so as to even the height difference between the two of them), Cologne continued, "Is this regarding the latest changes in Son-in-law?"

Fidgeting slightly, Shampoo answered in Chinese so as to convey her words fully, "That is partially the reason, Honored Elder."

The Matriarch raised an eyebrow at her descendent for switching to their native tongue. Shampoo only typically did this when something relatively important had occurred and she needed to make sure her great-grandmother understood exactly what needed to be told. Her curiosity peaked, Cologne stated, "Go on, child."

After taking a deep breath, Shampoo continued, "Earlier today I went to my beloved to give him lunch as usual." Seeing Cologne nod in acknowledgement, she added, "Of course, I greeted him in our traditional manner. Then that spoiled rich girl and I got into a brief argument. However, afterwards…" At this point, Shampoo trailed and fidgeted, unsure how to continue.

Watching her great-granddaughter get nervous caught the matriarch's interest. Something big must have occurred to make Shampoo this apprehensive. "What is it, child?"

After collecting her thoughts, the purple-haired Amazon continued, "Then I had noticed a newcomer within the vicinity. Immediately, I had my suspicions as to the reasoning for her being next to Ranma."

Cologne interrupted Shampoo by stating dryly, "In other words, that she was a new fiancée." Sometimes the depth of Genma's stupidity amazed even her.

Nodding, the younger Amazon answered, "It turned out I assumed correctly. In my exasperation, I challenged the girl to fight Ranma for the rights over the engagement.

Sighing, Cologne lectured, "How many times have I told you, Xian Pu, that you need to control your emotions better in these situations? Do you really want to end up like that young Tendo girl?

Bowing her head slightly, Shampoo apologized, "I'm sorry, Great-grandmother, but these engagements become so tiresome when dealing with them time after time."

'Well, she does have a point there,' Cologne told herself. Speaking out loud, she said, "Go on, Xian Pu."

After clearing her throat, Shampoo sheepishly added, "When she rejected the offer, I, uh, challenged her to a duel." Before the elder could berate her great-granddaughter again, she noticed a drastic change in the warrior maiden's demeanor, shifting from one of slight guilt to one of anxiety. "When I next looked into her eyes…I don't really know how to describe it. After shuddering slightly, she continued, "They were like two red pools of hate…and that black lightning which crackled along her fists.

Unnoticed to Shampoo, Cologne stiffened slightly at the references to red eyes and black lightning. In a controlled, measured voice, the Matriarch inquired, "Did you perchance obtain her name, Great-granddaughter?"

Frowning slightly in thought, Shampoo answered after a moment, "Mara Demonica, Great-grandmother."

After rubbing her chin with one hand while still balancing on the stick with the other, Cologne began to hop back into the kitchen. Before entering, she asked a final question offhandedly, "By the way, Great-granddaughter, did Ranma still have the new changes to his looks when you last seen him?

Puzzled at the peculiar question, Shampoo nonetheless replied, "Yes, Great-grandmother.

Raising an eyebrow, Cologne stated, more to herself than to anyone else, "Interesting, I think that I would like to meet this Mara Demonica." Facing her descendent directly, the elder authoritatively said to Shampoo in Japanese, "Perhaps we can continue this conversation at a later time once I think more on the subject. For now, I expect this room to be cleaned up quickly, Great-granddaughter."

Recognizing the tone being used, Shampoo straightened up and stated, "Yes, Great-grandmother, Shampoo make sure eating room be all nice now." Immediately, the purple-haired girl set about her assigned task.

Sighing, Cologne wondered why her great-granddaughter never tried to improve upon her Japanese in all the time that they stayed here. To be truthful, she thought that it made her sound like a ditz. Shaking her head of such thoughts, the matriarch hopped back in the kitchen to prepare in straightening out the kitchen. 'I wonder what 'Mr. Part-Time will do with the information he has learned now…Then again that should be obvious.'

Indeed out in the storeroom, the Master of Hidden Weapons Mousse had left the door open slightly and was listening in on the previous conversation. His reaction was to be expected. Fuming in anger, Mousse was once again cursing the one whom he thought was in his way towards happiness. 'Curse you Saotome. Again you sneak behind the back of my darling Shampoo to add another member to you harem. And someone who scared my sweet Shampoo too!' Seething, Mousse neglected to admit to himself that Shampoo is actually a part of that 'harem' as well. 'I shall not forgive either of you for these outrages, Ranma Saotome and Mara Demonica!'

At the Tendo Dojo…

Dinner was a quiet affair for once at the dining table with each of those present lost in their own thoughts. Mara was daydreaming on how sweet it was going to be seeing those who tormented her being emotionally brought to their knees. It was taking a lot of willpower from laughing maniacally at the thought. The two Saotome men were too busy concentrating on eating to be having any side-thoughts, although they did slow down a bit after a disapproving look from Nodoka. The Tendos seemed to be content in consuming food at a normal rate.

Well except for Nabiki, who while on the outside seemed to be expressing her usual cool, indifferent self, was actually a bit anxious in her thoughts. For now, she was having second thoughts on taking those pictures of Mara and selling them to Kuno. In her greed, Nabiki realized that she had blinded herself to the fact that not all martial artists were gullible jocks like Ranma. In fact, the middle Tendo girl was kicking herself for making such an amateurish mistake. This was especially true with what her flunkies described at the confrontation between Mara and Shampoo as well as Kodachi.

However, it was too late for regrets and all Nabiki could do was damage control. Obviously, the rest of the pictures she had would not be sold to anyone else for the time being (Kuno having been the only person to obtain some photos so far). They would need to be securely stored away where Mara would not find them. Hopefully, Kuno would be responsible enough to hide them away from his psychotic sister. The minute that thought entered her mind, Nabiki almost sweatdropped. Kuno responsible? 'Yeah right,' was the sarcastic reply to herself. Maybe she could somehow get Ranma to protect her from any possible wrath that Mara might exact. That demeanor of his from before must have been a fluke.

Perhaps if she said that enough, Nabiki might actually believe it.

Of course, the calm at the dinner table could not last forever. After Kasumi went into the kitchen to fetch more drinks (lemonade in this case), she returned carrying a tray loaded with filled cups. As could be predicted, she stumbled on a recent indentation in the floor. Fortunately, the Tendo matriarch was able to prevent the cups from falling. Unfortunately, the motion caused liquid to splash out of them and unto the resident gender-bender. The results were obvious.

Nabiki and Akane watched the transformation with rapt interest (the new form was still new to them) rather than the shock being displayed by the rest of those present, except by Mara and Ranma obviously. Even an "oh my" did not escape Kasumi's lips this time.

Finally Nodoka was able to break out of her stupor and put the pieces together (with respect to what she had been told). Turning towards her child, she asked, "I take it that this was another 'side-effect' of your recent training?"

Nodding nervously, Ranma replied, "Um, yeah. Sorry I forgot to tell ya, mom, but, uh, things have been sorta hectic lately."

After examining her son closely for another second, Nodoka closed her eyes and sighed. Focusing on Ranma again, she smiled to alleviate his worries. "It's okay, son. I suppose I can understand considering the circumstances. Now wait a moment while I go and heat you up some hot water."

Sighing in relief, Ranma stated, "Thanks, mom, but I can get the water."

With a smile still on her face, Nodoka responded, "Nonsense, dear. Just go and finish you dinner." Turning towards the two elder men, she frowned at their continued gawking. "And that goes for you two as well." This caused to the two men to gulp in nervousness, but nonetheless resumed eating, albeit hesitantly while occasionally glancing at Ranma.

Nodding in satisfaction, Nodoka turned and walked towards the kitchen, pondering the latest development. 'Yes, things seem to be changing now…but for the better or worse, I'm not sure.'

The next day…

Breakfast was rather typical for the Tendo household. Almost miraculously, Ranma avoided getting wet again, for which most of the residents were thankful since they were not yet used to the changes in his Jusenkyo curse. As usual, Nabiki left ahead of everyone so as to set shop for the days' operations.

As the day before, Ranma, Akane, and Mara found themselves walking along the same path. Eventually, Ukyo met up with them in passing and they all continued in comfortable silence. Of course, Mara was mostly quiet due to her plans of revenge, which consisted of comparing the personalities of those she had met with the brief descriptions given in the report on Ranma. 'Okay, Shampoo is some sort of Amazon…Figures though…Athena's followers were always headstrong. Those Kuno brats are obviously spoiled rich people who think they are superior to everyone since their auras did not show any signs of trauma. They probably believe that they should always get what they want, Tatewaki because he thinks of himself as a samurai and Kodachi for assuming her beauty and refinement are beyond compare. Hell, laughing like Urd is reason enough for some sort of punishment. Nabiki seems to get a kick out of being some sort of puppetmaster, manipulating people to her whims.'

Mara could sympathize somewhat with the middle Tendo girl's predicament. She cared for her family and obviously helped keep the dojo afloat with her machinations. The demoness also somewhat respected the methodology which the girl controlled situations since she herself have been known to use people in various plans. However, Nabiki seemed to have become somewhat overconfident in her position. Of course, it was Mara's duty to teach the little bit-,um, girl her place in the grand scheme of things. And then there was Masamichi Fujisawa, who, well, ah hell he just pissed her off.

And soon the demoness would be able to set her plans into motion. Already Mara had an outline of what to do to with several individuals. Now it was only a matter of time.

Eventually the quartet made it to their destination. Upon entering the schoolyard, three of the four were surprised to not to see the "Blue Thunder" around to give his morning speech (Mara, however, had a slight smirk on her face), especially considering the way he reacted to the changes in Ranma the other day. It seemed as if the morning was going to be quiet for once.

As if…for a newcomer screamed two words which made not only Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo cringe, but the rest of the school as well.

"Aloha, keikis!"

Hesitantly, everyone turned towards the voice, only to discover that their fears were justified. Well, all of the people except Mara were nervous at latest arrival. She was more confused as to what made the entire school populous anxious about this figure. Although upon closer inspection, the demoness could make some guesses.

The man in question wore Hawaiian attire and on his face were dark-shade sunglasses. In each hand were a large bag and on his head was a small…palm tree!?!

'This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder,' thought Mara in exasperation while studying the other figure. He seemed to have been hiding in some bushes to the side of entrance from the twigs stuck on his clothing. Curiously, the man's attention seemed to be focused almost solely on Ranma.

"Dis be a new year for the big kahuna with de troublemakers. I be sure to enforce da rules this time. Especially sure in getting rid of dat pigtail." As if to emphasize his point, Principal Kuno brought the bags up as an implicit threat.

Whispering down to her companions, Mara asked the obvious question, "Okay, who is this nut?"

Sighing in obvious agitation, Ranma nonetheless provided her with an answer. "That unfortunately is Principal," the lack of respect was apparent in saying the title, "Kuno, the headmaster of the school. And before you ask, yeah, he's that idiot's father." It did not need to be said which idiot he was referring to.

Mara shook her head in amazement at the variety of characters in the area. 'This place is really full of nutcases compared to that Nekomi Tech campus.'

The conversation did not go unnoticed by Principal Kuno, but in fact brought his to the newcomer at Furinken. "Oh, der me a new keiki here. And she be having da long hair as well. Well, da big kahuna just knows what ta do in dis case." Putting the bags downs, the headmaster brought out a remote control, causing all of the students to become tense. Mara simply looked more confused than before, but there was also a note of wariness as well.

After pressing the button, various smoke bombs exploded from the grounds, causing the students to panic. Then during the confusion, a voice rang out in seemingly everywhere.

"Hundred Clipper Shave!"

To Ranma, Ukyo, and Akane, their trained eyes saw the shavers flying towards them from all directions and easily deflected them. Mara, however, was too flabbergasted by the idea of someone actually throwing shavers to really move. Fortunately, the martial artists present were close enough to redirect them away from her, well except for one which flew by her bangs. It was the couple of strands of hair floating in front of her eyes which snapped Mara out of her daze. Almost hypnotically, she viewed the strands as they floated down to the ground.

As the smoke cleared, the principal was found laughing at the same position he was before. "I be trainin' in Martial Arts Barbering da last month, keikis. You be not stoppin' me dis time around." His laughing continued afterwards until a hard punch to the stomach caused him to wheeze. The fist still imbedded in his stomach was attached to the arm of Mara, whose head was bowed in seemingly contemplation. The occasional shaking of her shoulders gave away her current feelings, that and the black miasma of power surrounding her.

One should note that losing a couple of strands of hair might not be amongst the most important things to worry about. That is not so for someone who took especially good care of it. Therefore, it was an angry Mara which raised her head and screamed out, "Baka!" This was followed by an uppercut that launched the lunatic headmaster into the Nerima sky. Much sweatdropping amongst the students ensued.

"Uh, Mara?" a hesitant Ranma asked towards the demoness, who was breathing heavily more from her anger than any apparent effort in sending the principal on a free trip.

Before even the demoness could respond, another voice rang throughout the schoolyard. "Ranma, how dare you flirt with my Shampoo again!" Mara suddenly found her torso wrapped in chains. Looking towards the source of them, she noted a Chinese teenager in white robes with glasses perched on his forehead.

"Mousse, you idiot! That's not me!" retorted Ranma towards the myopic fighter.

Walking towards the figure in his grasp without letting the tension in the chains go, Mousse used his other hand to put his glasses back on and closely examined the person. "You're not Ranma!"

"Gee, whatever gave you that idea." Instead of speaking with hot anger, Mara's voice was cold and collected. Truth be told, it scared many of the students more so.

Ignoring the warning signals in his head, Mousse noticed how he had not seen this person before and was able to put two and two together. "Would you happen to be Mara Demonica?"

"Yes," Mara stated coldly. Some of the students backed up at the tone of her voice.

Of course, this re-ignited Mousse's previous anger, and he subsequently shouted out, "Mara Demonica, how dare you…"

However, before the Hidden Weapons master could complete his sentence, Mara calmly brought up one hand, took hold of the chains surrounding her and sent black lightning through them towards Mousse. This obviously had the effect of electrocuting the male Amazon into unconsciousness. Smoke could even be seen wafting from his still body. The sudden release of tension in the chains allowed them to fall from the demoness' body.

Brushing off some imaginary dust from her clothing, Mara then straightened out her clothing, being the picture of calm and collected. After standing there for several seconds, she took a deep breath and suddenly shouted out, "Does anyone else got a problem with me, huh!?!" Pointing towards a random nearby student, "Do you wanna fight!?!" Suffice it to say that the person in question emphatically shook his head in the negative.

Ranma, Ukyo, and Akane walked up to Mara and tried to diffuse the situation. The okonomiyaki chef was the first to speak. "Calm down, sugar. Don't those jerks start getting to ya."

"Yeah, that hair-crazed principal is always trying some stupid scheme to shave our heads," added Ranma. Tapping his chin thoughtfully, he continued, "Ya know, I'm starting to think that the more we fight him, the nuttier he gets."

That seemed to give some pause to those present.

Shaking her head, Akane spoke regarding the other nuisance. "Mousse probably heard out what happened with Shampoo. He's pretty obsess-, ur, protective, of her." The shorthaired girl blushed a bit with her slipup.

Sighing loudly, Mara pinched the bridge of her nose and simply said, "Let's just go to class." Without waiting for a response, the blond walked towards the entrance of the school building. 'How the hell do these people put-up with this crazy place?'

Looking at each uncertainly, they decided to shrug the incidents off and followed Mara's example in heading to class, leaving a smoking Mousse on the ground.

After all, it was Furinken High.

Later in the day…

Many students dread classes for certain reasons. Some think of the material as boring, while others do not like their teachers. Mara was one who hated her history class for both bases, that and the fact that Masamichi Fujisawa seemed to have an inherent dislike for her. 'Well the feeling is mutual,' thought the demoness. These contemplations were interrupted by the teacher's latest tirade toward her.

"Miss Demonica, how many times do I have to tell you to pay attention in class!?! Or do I have to send you out in the hall again?" After melodramatically sighing, he continued, "How do expect to learn the material if you keep daydreaming? Does this class mean nothing to you?" Slapping the desk with the palm of his hand, Mr. Fujisawa added, "Without history…"

Mara yawned noisily in order to interrupt whatever drivel was going to come out of the teacher's mouth. Before he could regain his bearings, she decided to add her two cents. "You're not going to say something corny about how we need to learn history so that it does not repeat itself." The sputtering that was Fujisawa's reply said more than enough.

Snorting indignantly, the demoness continued, "Oh please. Human beings think that they have changed so much in their meager existence. That they have become an 'advanced' society as compared to the days of Babylon." Standing up, Mara continued, "People haven't changed, only the 'toys' that they use."

The demoness began to make slow, deliberate steps towards the front of the class, each one making the teacher more nervous than the last, while the class watched in quiet anticipation. "History is nothing but a biased story where one's heroes are another's villains. Everyone, including those whom you have probably looked up to, has their dirty little secrets that they keep hidden." Smirking darkly, "It makes you wonder how people would react if those skeletons came out of the closet."

Being only a couple of feet away from Fujisawa, Mara was able to make out the slight trembling of his body and she knew that it was not from anger. Smiling in satisfaction, the blond woman turned around and was confronted by the wide-eyed attention of the entire class, including Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo. Sweatdropping, Mara thought, 'Maybe I overdid it a little.'

After regaining some of his bearings, the teacher yelled out, "Miss Demonica, go out into the hall right now!" Said student directed a superior smirk towards the man, but nonetheless complied, although at a slow pace. Before she closed the door behind her, Fujisawa thought that he should get in the last word in order to save some face. "Although you may be right about how some people don't deserve as much praise as they do, we can't know for sure what they did or did not do. Therefore, we only look at their accomplishments." Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Fujisawa allowed himself to smirk and added almost as an afterthought, "We'd have to ask them ourselves to even possibly know the truth."

With her face obscured by the opened door, no one noticed the slight widening of Mara's eyes or the evil smile that formed. Instead of retorting at the teacher's statements, all the demoness did was calmly exit the classroom.

Later…

Despite having been punished so recently (although quite frankly it was more of a hassle than anything else), Mara's mood was getting better. Fujisawa did not even take it upon himself to give her detention, probably so as not to seem petty in front of the students. Most importantly, however, was that all of the pieces to the puzzle were coming together.

For the blond demoness, it was quite easy to come with appropriate punishments for Nabiki, Shampoo, and Kodachi. However, now she had to deliver her own sense of justice upon that hair-cutting nut of a principal and that near-sighted fool Mousse. And, of course, there was Kuno. No, Mara did not forget about him by any stretch of the imagination. For all of the degradation that he had put her through, the kendoist needed a more personal humiliation.

And so, Mara had been sitting in her literature class, mostly contemplating her revenge plans, while keep a small amount of focus on the actual lecture. However, at the end of the session, the teacher's next words got her full attention.

"Okay, class, for tomorrow I want you to write a report on what you think is the main theme on the classic story 'The Emperor's New Clothes,' which starts on page 50? Also, talk about how it relates to modern-day issues. Be sure to give appropriate examples and references from it."

While most of the class grudgingly accepted the assignment, it being a bit easier than what they expected for the day, Mara was holding herself back from smiling. 'Well, it looks like school can be a fountain of ideas after all.'

After school…

The procession towards the Tendo Dojo was uncomfortable, at least to Ranma and Akane, while the demoness seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. When passing Ucchan's, the okonomiyaki chef said a quick and awkward goodbye, retreating into the sanctuary of her restaurant.

Finally, Ranma decided to break the ice in his usual, blunt matter, "So, uh, nice speech you had going there in history."

This caused Akane to almost facefault, but the shorthaired girl was fortunately able to avoid in doing so. Nonetheless, that did not stop her from muttering, "Baka," with regards to his lack of tact. When the blond gave no response after a few moments, the two blinked at each other, before shrugging and returning on their way home.

The reason being for Mara's silence was obvious. Currently, she was deciding upon the best way to execute her plans. In addition, the blond demoness had not figured out a suitable punishment for that Mousse idiot. These thoughts occupied her mind upon reaching the Tendo grounds and entering the home. After saying a casual, "Hello," Mara went to her room still deep in thought with a wary Ranma and Akane watching after her. The two shrugged off the unusual occurrence and went about their own business.

Eventually dinner came and everyone ate one of Kasumi's gourmet meals yet again. It was afterwards when the family was flipping through the television channels that Mara got inspiration. "Hey isn't this some old gaijin cartoon?" questioned Akane.

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Ranma commented, "Y'know, pulling those bombs out of nowhere kind of reminds me of Mousse's hidden weapons technique." Everyone looked at the pigtailed boy strangely at this statement.

Sighing, Akane shook her head, "Ranma, does everything have to relate to martial arts to you?"

To this Ranma blinked and responded, "But it does look like it." It was then that Soun and Genma entered in to the argu-, uh, discussion. Throughout it, however, Mara kept a hidden smile to herself. The planning was done; now only the implementation was left.

Finally, night came and everyone living at Tendo Dojo save one was sound asleep. In an exaggerated display of drama, Mara was currently standing on the house's roof with her arms crossed underneath her chest. Smiling darkly, the demoness simply said, "Commencing stage one."

Jumping into a CD strategically placed on the rooftop, Mara faded away only to suddenly reappear next to a music collection within the bedroom of a certain middle Tendo sister. Walking up to the bed, she glanced over the peaceful face of Nabiki Tendo. Smirking, the blond quietly commented, "Well, you sure look different without the smug expression on your face."

Placing her hands just above the prone Tendo girl, Mara silently chanted, "Remove the mask from which the senses filter. Let all hear the inner voice." A slight glow briefly enveloped Nabiki's body. Looking around the room, the blond demoness found the desk and searched though it. Frowning at her lack of success, Mara continued onto the closet. After another short search, she scowled in annoyance.

Glancing at the still prone form of the middle Tendo girl, Mara suddenly smirked as another idea came to her. Stretching out an arm towards the bed, her hand glowed with a dark light, which then encompassed bed. After mentally lifting it at a slow rate, the blond walked over and looked under it. Smiling in triumph, Mara removed the packet taped to the bottom and opened its contents. Seeing the photos and negatives made her smile widen.

Briefly looking through the photos, Mara saw ones of her, Ranma-chan (before and after his ascension), Akane (which were more tasteful than the first groups), and finally Ranma's male form. The latter ones even made her blush a bit. Raising an eyebrow at the slumbering Nabiki, the blond commented, "You naughty, naughty girl." Nonetheless, with a wave of her hand the pictures on all of the photos and negatives disappeared, leaving only blank space.

Putting them back into the packet, the blond returned the contents to their original location and lowered the bed. It was risky destroying the pictures, but there was no way in hell she was going to let those perverted photos be available. With a wide grin of satisfaction the demoness turned around and teleported through the nearby CD.

Appearing out of a stereo system, Mara took a look around her surroundings and almost immediately grimaced in disgust. Along the walls were various pictures of Ranma-chan and Akane, a couple even being poster-size. The demoness' anger grew at even seeing some of her. With a fierce wave of her hand, all of them became blank. Mara repeated the gesture to a nearby bookshelf containing photo albums since she had no doubt what the contents in there would be.

Walking up to the bed, the blond saw the slumbering figure of Tatewaki Kuno, who still had a few bandages here and there from the previous attacks. Resisting the urge to blast him again, Mara quietly snapped her fingers and an elaborately decorated box appeared next to the bed. Holding out one hand, the demoness quietly chanted, "For one who refuses to see the truth, let only your eyes see these fabrics of reality." After the brief glow that subsequently surrounded Kuno and the box faded, Mara grinned evilly.

With a flip of her wrist, a piece of paper containing various outlined facts appeared. Scanning the contents to recall the location of her next target, Mara phased though the walls in the appropriate direction, eventually reaching her destination. The Hawaiian design of the room was just as the demoness expected. There were even several fake palm trees scattered throughout the area.

Gliding over to the bed, Mara looked down towards a sleeping Principal Kuno, who was clutching a pair of clippers like a teddy bear. Once again repeating the gesture, the blond raised her hand and spoke quietly, "Let the instruments of your shearing hobby return to their owner in showing his folly." This time the glow surrounded the principal, the clippers in his hands, and a large bag situated next to the bed labeled, "Me babies."

Smirking at the latest success, the demoness took out a flask from her front and took a few swigs from it. After putting it back, Mara muttered to herself, "Ah, that hit the spot. I'll need all the energy I can get for the next one." Looking over the direction at which Kodachi's room would be, she continued with an wicked smile, "But don't worry your pretty little head over it. I have different plans for you."

With yet another flip of her wrist, a crystal vile containing a clear liquid appeared in Mara's hands. Not bothering to find a CD, she transported out of the Kuno compound, only to reappear in a quaint room that was much smaller than those of the mansion. Quickly scanning the room, Mara found a small make-up table and mirror in the corner. Zooming over there, the demoness took the vile and poured its contents in the perfume bottle. Not wasting any time, she immediately transported out of the room. A couple of seconds later, the door loudly opened and hopped in an anxious Cologne, who seemed to be warily scanning the vicinity.

A weary Shampoo woke up and looked at her great-grandmother with sleepy eyes, "What wrong, Great-grandmother?"

After closing her eyes for a few seconds, the matriarch looked at Shampoo and replied, "Nothing, Shampoo, go back to sleep." Too tired to ask anything else, the Amazon girl simply nodded and laid back down. Cologne took a few more glances around the room before closing the door behind her.

Floating across the street from the Nekohaten, Mara smirked at a job well done. From the files, the demoness knew that Shampoo's great-grandmother was the matriarch of that Amazon tribe. Therefore, she also knew that the elder would most likely be able to sense the energy from the teleportation and that it would be a good idea to only make a quick stop in the restaurant. Both Mousse's and Kodachi's punishments could wait for later using some of her other resources.

'Now there's only one more stop to make,' Mara noted to herself. With another teleportation, the demoness arrived in a plain apartment that screamed bachelor. The only thing that seemed to standout was a bookshelf that was filled with various history subjects. Fujisawa himself was sprawled out across a simple futon and snoring quite loudly. After gliding to the bed, Mara then looked upon the sleeping form. Snorting quietly, the demoness began her latest chant, "For one studying the past, see that which is not seen in the present until the nearby future." Once more a glow surrounded the victim of a spell. Smiling in satisfaction, Mara commented to herself, "Let the games begin," and subsequently teleported back to the Tendo dojo for sleep.

End Chapter 7, Part 1.

OMAKE…OMAKE…OMAKE…

Deep below the surface of the Earth, an ancient evil was stirring. Soon it would be free to wreak havoc upon the world, destroying everything in its pa-…

"Wrong story!" a voice outside the screen exclaimed.

…

…

Ahem. (The author quietly changes the scene to that of a theater.)

The red curtain in the backdrop of the stage was still closed, and the audience, whose features remained indistinct in the dark, watched in hushed anticipation of the events unfolding.

"Get on with it already!" a second voice added.

…

… (The author grumbles, but does so.)

As the house lights dimmed, the spectators clapped politely when two figures entered the stage. From the left strolled in Mara and from the opposite end Ranma appeared. Both were in chibi-forms and wore attire typical for themselves. The demoness was dressed in low-cut shorts combined with a halter-top and a leather jacket. Showing his lack of fashion and style, Ranma wore a red silk shirt and black pants combination.

"Hey!" the demon in question shouted indignantly.

Mara snickered behind her hand, stopping when the boy redirected his glare. Clearing her throat meaningfully, Ranma grumbled, but nonetheless complied in bringing his attention back to the audience.

After seeing this, the blond continued, "Today, we bring you the first installment of…" pausing for dramatic effect, "Demons for Dummies!" The curtain lifted into the air, showing the title in obscenely large letters, below which was located a monitor.

"The purpose of this short series is to give you the audience a better understanding of the information Ranma will be learning from the book," sagely stated Mara.

Scratching his head in confusion, Ranma noted, "I thought that this was just filler material because the author is too lazy to put it into the story." Of course, at the end of the pigtailed boy's statement, a lightning bolt sent from above electrocuted him.

The demoness whispered to her stage partner, "Never piss off the author in an omake." Clearing her throat and ignoring the smoking teenager on the floor, Mara continued, "Anyway, today's lesson is the roles of demons, humans, and gods in the multiverse." After snapping her fingers, the blank screen suddenly showed a group photo containing Hild, Mara, Ranma, and Velspar (cursed child form before feline reincarnation). "First, let's start off with demons. Now unlike what most people tend to believe, demons are not intrinsically evil people."

The pictures on the screen change to various scenes from the Ah! My Goddess manga, including the Mara, Ninja Master, Queen Sayoko, Hild, and Rind arcs. "Demons are basically beings of chaos whose job is to destabilize Midgard." A picture of Earth in the Midgard plane appears. "Think of the world as one big business market with the demons and gods continuously trying to take the largest share for their side. In the case of demons, we do this by manipulating events or making contracts with humans such that promote chaos." Wagging her left index finger for emphasis, "Now, chaos is not in itself good or evil, because if there was none, there would be no change in the universe. However, human society labeled most incidences of large-scale disorder under a term called 'evil,' which eventually led to mortal's current perceptions of demons."

The screen changes once again to that of Hild. "Many people in the audience might be thinking about 'the look' for which Hild-sama is known, the one which can cause even amongst the strongest of gods and goddesses to shake in fear." After crossing her arms and attempting to an all-knowing look, Mara continued, "Now, although 'the look' may be described as the epitome of evil, it would probably be more accurate to say that it portrays her utter ruthlessness."

Almost as afterthoughts, the demoness elaborated, "Hild-sama will do anything she sees fit to achieve her goals. Even the destruction of the world would be possible if there would be adequate compensation. All mortals, demons, or gods are pawns to her schemes…"

A loud ringing interrupted Mara's speech. Blinking in surprise, the blond suddenly realized what she was saying and grew increasingly nervous. Tentatively reaching down her front (to the audience's pleasure), she took out a phone and flipped it open.

Sweating slightly from anxiety, Mara put the phone to her ear and said, "Uh, Boss?"

A sweet and yet sensual voice simply stated on the other end, "Ma-chan, we WILL have words later. Have a good time on the show!" The connection was subsequently cut off.

Whimpering quietly, Mara could look at the phone with increasing horror.

A smoking Ranma stood up from his position on the floor. Dusting himself off, the pigtailed boy glanced in the direction of his co-host and promptly sweatdropped. "Uh, Mara?" Getting no response, the demon waved his hand in front of her face. Still getting no response, Ranma shrugged his shoulders and turned back towards the audience, saying "I, uh, guess that's my cue."

The monitor now showed a picture of Urd, Belldandy, Skuld, Peorth, and Rind on it. "Well, gods and goddesses are basically…"

A voice interrupted Ranma's talk. "I think it would be better if I handled this." Blinking in surprise, the pigtailed demon looked at the screen and saw the picture of Urd being animated. Winking at the boy, the goddess leaped out of the monitor in chibi-form and landed to the other side of Ranma. Also dressed in typical clothes for her, Urd wore a long blue dress with high splits on either side up to her hips in addition to showing a generous amount of cleavage at the top.

The arrival of the goddess seemed to have snapped Mara out of her self-imposed trance. Angrily, the demoness shouted, "Urd, what the hell are you doing here!?! You're not even part of the main storyline yet!"

Shrugging indifferently, Urd calmly stated, "The audience keeps asking for my sisters and me, but since we're not going to be introduced for a while yet, I got another cameo role to make them happy. Do you have a problem with that?" To emphasize her point, the platinum-blond smirked arrogantly.

Seething quietly, Mara crossed her arms but nevertheless let Urd continue.

Smiling in triumph, the goddess turned back to the audience. "Gods and goddesses have basically the same job as demons and demonesses, but with respect to order instead of chaos. Whereas the latter is important for change, order is needed to prevent Midgard from being altered too rapidly…"

Interrupting Urd, Mara smirked and said, "Of course, some goddesses are better at doing a demon's job than their own."

With her twitching eye slightly, the goddess asked, "And what do you mean by that!?!"

Smiling widely, Mara snapped her fingers and on the screen showed various scenes of failed attempts from Urd in getting Keiichi and Belldandy together. In response, Urd indignantly shouted out, "Hey, some those were Keiichi's own fault for using my potions!?!"

"Details, details," lazily added Mara.

Twitching in repressed anger, Urd shot back, "Oh, yeah, well two can play at this game!" Snapping her fingers, the pictures changed to various failed schemes of Mara. "Your plots ended up doing nothing but bring Keiichi and Belldandy closer together." Smiling quite unlike a goddess should, Urd continued, "So, who is doing who's job?"

Black lightning forming around her fists, Mara growled out, "Why you…"

White lightning gathered similarly around Urd. "Bring it on…"

Sweatdropping from the impending violence, Ranma discretely stepped away from between the two. Yes, the Saotome Anything Goes Martial Arts Final Attack comes in handy every now and then, demon or not. He may have been ignorant about many things in the world, but Ranma was not stupid.

"Hellfire Thunder Blast!"

"Lightning Strike!"

Of course, the result of the explosion was a burnt goddess and a scorched demoness. Seeing that the two were okay, except for being unconscious at the moment, Ranma continued, "Ah, I guess it's my turn." The picture on screen switched to a conglomeration of the assorted mortals from the Ranma ½ and Ah! My Goddess universes. "Humans are neither beings of order or chaos and are free to choose their own paths." After blinking several times, Ranma exclaimed, "That's it! No pictures, video, or anything! What a rip-off!" The pigtailed demon continued to mumble to himself for several seconds about cheap-ass lines and lazy authors. Of course, this resulted in another lightning bolt striking down on Ranma.

Due to electrical difficulties, it comes to the author to wrap-up this segment. Tune in next time for another exciting episode of "Demons for Dummies!"

End Omake.

Author's Notes:

Well, it's been a long time. Sorry about the infrequent updates, but I don't really write to a schedule. I have not abandoned any of my fanfics, it's just that I have no clue as to when I work on them. As can be seen, this part was only half of the original chapter. I still have some scenes to work on in the second part. However, to alleviate anyone's worries about me being 'dead,' I decided to post this section.

Some corrections were made to previous chapters:

-The methodology on how invisibility works (prologue).

-Saffron's abilities (prologue).

-The use of fiancé and fiancée (all chapters).

-A while back, had a problem recognizing '…' and put in '.' instead. This problem should be corrected with the re-upload of the chapters.

With regards to this chapter, I thought that I had better elaborate on some of the material. Some might be thinking that the Tendo and Saotome families have accepted Ranma's changes too easily. Genma and Soun's only main concern would be if the changes would affect the joining of the two schools, which it won't (at least from their perspective). Kasumi's character is easy-going and can accept these situations without difficulty. As was mentioned in the story, Nodoka is putting up a brave front for her son.

As was previously mentioned, Mara's teleportation medium are CD's; however, it can be done without using the medium, it just takes more power in doing so. I plan to elaborate later on how teleportation works and the specifics on mediums in a later "Demons for Dummies" omake. Mara was basically conserving energy in the beginning since it was going to be needed later (e.g., at the Nekohaten for a quick escape). Secondary energy sources (i.e., alcohol in Mara's and Ranma's cases) only works so far.

The "Demons for Dummies" omakes that will be posted at the end of the chapters give my take on how the AMG god and demon universes work. I plan to have several more of these particular omakes in the future to elaborate on some other issues like the one above. Well, that's about all I have to say on this chapter. Thank you to all of the fans for my works in being patient for updates! Comments and criticism would be appreciated.

-ranmafan1


End file.
